The Clown and the Alchemist
by Fruitloop-chan
Summary: The so called Holy War is over but left Allen alone in the world. Neah the 14th Noah, opened a gate to send him to Martel, where his final resting place would be so that the Order will not find him and experiment on him ever again. But it turns out that he was sent to Amestris, Resembool and was saved by Edward. (FMA Brotherhood Where his automail was destroyed by Scar)
1. The Lost Clown

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or DGM. **

Cover will be up soon! I still can't think of what to do with the cover... Too many scarps gah!

Well on with the story then!

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**The Clown and the Alchemists**

**Chapter 01: The Lost Clown**

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The so called Holy War was finally over. Bodies and blood of fallen comrades and enemies were splattered on the ground and the smell of rotten flesh filled the air. The bodies of Akuma were littered to the ground as smoke sizzling on their bodies. The sky that once was blue was now bloody red. Like the color of blood mixed with black ashes. One figure stood triumph on the grounds of the battle field. It was a young man with a bloody and battered white cape that was covering his body like a suit of armor; a shiny silver mask was adored his face. He had white spiky hair and on his right hand; he was gripping a broadsword that has a cross embodied on its center.

"It's finally over, uncle" the boy said as he stared at the dead body in front of him.

On the ground was a man that looked around on his forty's. His chest was covered in blood; his golden eyes were dull and empty. On his hands was a broadsword just like the boy's except the color of the cross and its edges were inverted. This particular man was the source of tragedy and all those millennia. This man was the Millennium Earl, Adam, the creator of the Akuma and the head Patriarch of the Noah Family.

The boy's cape and sword faded away with a flash of white light. A black like military uniform came into view; the half of it was ripped; exposing the black arms of the boy's hand and also his bleeding abdomen. The boy's face was covered with scratches, bruise and also dried and fresh blood. The left side of his face had a strange scar like pentacle that traces down to his jaw line. His eyes were the color of Mercury and within those eyes were filled with sorrow and pain.

"**Allen…" **A voice whispered behind the boy's mind.

The boy, Allen, put a sad smile on his face when he heard that voice but it was quickly replaced with a frown. Allen turned his head to the bloody battlefield. He saw his comrades, his friends, and the other exorcists who have joined the war. Near him, he saw his friend, a boy with red hair with an eye patch over his left eye, he was missing an arm and his remaining arm held a tiny little hammer, his once energetic emerald eye was now empty and soulless, his name was Lavi Bookman Jr. Lavi protected him from the incoming blow of the Noah, Tyki Mikk, that cost his arm in the process but because of this act, it helped Allen to attack and stabbed Tyki, slicing him in half.

Allen knelled in the side of Lavi's dead body. A memory flashed before his eyes.

_He was in the Black Order's hall; he was on his way to his room when a familiar red head was running towards him and stopped him on his tracks._

"_Allen~ Yuu-chan's gonna murder me, save me please!" Lavi begged as he hid behind Allen. A boy with bluish hair stared at the two and griped his sword. "Step aside, Moyashi" the man said. "I'm going to kill that stupid rabbit"._

_A tick mark formed on Allen's face, his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. He smirked and looked at the man in front of him. "It's Allen, BaKanda" Allen said in annoyance. The man put the edge of his sword on his throat. _

"_Do you have a death wish, Moyashi?" _

"_It's Allen, Bakanda, maybe you have to check your brain, oh wait, you don't have one!"_

_Lavi then peeked to see the mad and annoyed samurai. "I'm sorry, Yuu-chan!" he said as he slowly back away. "I didn't mean to put a chili curry on your soba"_

"_I'll kill you baka usagi!" then both Lavi and the man left leaving Allen behind. Allen could hear curses and the screaming of one so dead Lavi._

Allen looked at his friend then put his hand to his eye and closed it.

"_Allen, I'll distract the Noah. Once the window of opportunity is open, attack him" Lavi said to him. He gripped his broadsword and nodded. The man in front of them was the Noah of Pleasure, Tyki Mikk, the Noah was injured but he won't go down easily. _

_Lavi ran towards the Noah and attacked him with his Fire Stamp Seal and Lightning Stamp Seal. The snake like fires and lightning swallowed the Noah whole, but what surprised Lavi was that an energy ball was forming on his hands. Allen didn't notice this. Until it was too late…_

_The energy ball was going after him…_

_Lavi pushed him away and Lavi's hand was hit and destroyed into pieces._

"_GYAAA!" Lavi screamed in pain. Tyki stared at Lavi and what Tyki didn't notice that Allen was gone; it was Allen's open chance. _

_Allen stabbed Tyki in the chest and sliced him in half, earning the Noah a piercing screams. The body of the dead Noah fell to the ground with a thud._

_He then noticed Lavi's body on the ground; he was gripping the wound of his shoulder where his arm was supposed to be. _

"_Good job, Moyashi" _

"_LAVI!"_

He slowly stood up and limp to the valley of corpses. He could see his friends' dead bodies; Miranda, Krory, Marie, Johnny, Reever and everyone in the Order he knew.

He then saw the Lee siblings, Komui and Lenalee Lee. They both died because of the blood lost. Komui's stomach had a big hole on it while Lenalee had many bloody wounds, her legs were twisted, and her abdomen was pierced by a huge pointy rock. Komui was hugging Lenalee; holding her closed to his chest.

Lenalee defeated two of the Noahs with the help of Kanda and Miranda.

_["Don't leave"]_

_[Nee, Allen-kun are you going to be alright?]_

He could hear Lenalee's voice repeating on his mind. He then looked at the body of Komui.

[_"Everyone is waiting back home"_]

[_"I can't wait to drink Lenalee's special coffee just for me"_]

Komui's voice echoing on his mind.

Allen closed his eyes and pictured his friends smiling back at him. He slowly walked away from the dead bodies looking for hope. A hope that someone was still alive and survived the war.

"Mo…ya..shi?"

On the corner of his eyes, he saw Kanda Yuu, his rival and arch nemesis. He hated the guy's guts and his so called nickname on him but he respected the swordsman's skills. He then walked towards the body and noticed that the tattoo on Kanda's chest was slowly going transparent.

"What are you looking at Moyashi?" Kanda said chocking on his own blood. Allen sat beside Kanda, holding his bleeding abdomen and he sighed.

"Even you, closed to dying, you still have the guts to call me that BaKanda?"

Kanda smirked then slowly looked at the sky. The skies were colored in the hue of blood and it was slowly turning grey, like it was about to rain.

"So the war is finally over?"

Allen nodded even if Kanda wasn't looking at him, Kanda knew to that answer to begin with. After all, silence means, yes. Allen then looked at Kanda's tattoo on his chest and it was fading away faster now. If only he could save his friend from dying, if only he could… but he couldn't do anything. All he could do was to stare and talked to him and stay with him. He knew that the tattoo on his friend's chest was keeping him alive.

A small smile formed at the samurai's face. It was rare for him to see that smile. "That's good to know…" He said and chocked to more blood. His body began to crack. "I can finally f*cking die in peace" his smirked never leaving on his face. Kanda closed his eyes. Allen looked at his friend and said his last farewell.

"Good night, Kanda" Allen said looking at his dying friend with sorrow on his eyes. Kanda's body began to crack even more turning him nothing more than dust. He could hear Kanda's faint voice.

["Farewell, Moyahi"]

He then slowly stood up.

["Everyone is waiting back home Allen"]

A pang on his mind as he heard those words on his head.

[Allen…] It was echoing in his ears. His tears rolled down on his cheeks. His friends were calling him.

He turned around; the once bloody battlefield was changed on his point of view. Instead of the dead comrades, enemies and the pieces of Akuma that filled the ground. He could see the smiling faces of his friends, together.

His Family.

"**What's wrong nephew?" **The voice inside his head said. He could feel his uncle's comforting him. If Neah Walker, Allen's uncle had a physical body, he could rub his aching shoulder and comfort and help his nephew as much as he can.

Allen's eyes were heavy; the wound on his abdomen was making him lose a lot of blood making him dizzy. He looked at the sky as it began to rain. The sky was crying.

The cold rain drops hit his skin. The smoke slowly disappeared.

"I'm tired…" Allen said but in a whisper.

A comforting chuckle of his uncle, he heard. "**Rest Allen, rest at your heart's content, you don't have to walk anymore… we won… I bet your friends are waiting for you in the other side**." as he heard his uncle said those words. Allen closed his eyes and darkness embraced him. He collapsed on his back, unknowingly the ark gate opened behind him sending him to who knows where. As he disappeared to the shining light of the ark, the ark gate closed and shattered leaving without a trace in the world.

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_**-Resembool**_

The hot breeze touched his skin. The elder of the Elric brothers, Edward Elric escorting him to Resembool was Major Armstrong carrying a crate containing the broken armor suit, which was housing the soulof the younger Elric, Alphonse Elric. He was in Resembool to visit his mechanic. He was missing his right automail arm because it was destroyed by a criminal named Scar. He needed a new one to repair the damaged Alphonse.

Edward breathed the fresh air of his home village. How he surely missed it.

"Oh, it's Edward!" one of the villagers said waving his hand. "It's been a while!" Ed waved back with a smile "Yeah, it's been a while!" He continued walking along the path. It was a long way to Rockbell's Automail Shop but it doesn't bother him. What bothered him was that the angry face of his childhood friend, Winry Rockbell on his mind. He could already feel the wrench hitting his head repeatedly. Ed snapped out of his thoughts when Major Armstrong talked to him.

"A wonderful village you got here, Edward Elric" Armstrong said as he looked at the beautiful scenery of the quiet little village.

"Yeah" Ed smiled and smiled.

Along the path, they noticed something near the small bridge. They couldn't identify what it was because it was too far away. Ed ran towards it but he was stopped by Major Armstrong by holding his shoulder. "Where are you going Edward Elric?"

"I'm going to check something out, just wait here" the Major let go of Edward's shoulder and Ed ran towards the bridge and as he got closer, he could see at least identify something of black and white. 'I wonder what it could be?' he thought. He then saw the color red. He ran faster and he arrived at the bridge. He saw a puddle of blood and on the center he could see an old man, his body filled with wounds.

"OI!" Ed ran getting closer to the man.

Major Armstrong heard Ed shout and put Alphonse on the ground.

"What's going on Major?" Alphonse asked. Armstrong had a bad feeling about this. "I'm going to check on Edward" Then he ran.

Edward looked at the body and realized that it was not an old man, no, it was not. It was a boy probably around his age. He could see that the boy was still breathing but in a slow pace. His eyes went to the exposed shoulder, it was covered with strange tattoo and his whole arm looked like it was burned into a crisp. His eyes trailed at the wound on the boy's abdomen. Ed panicked, he could clearly see the big wound and by the looks of it, it was deep. He removed his favorite jacket and done his best to bandage the poor boy. It was tricky using one hand but he still can manage it.

Major arrived and completely shocked to see the young boy. "What happened?" Major Armstrong asked him. "I don't know!" he shouted at him. "Major, quick carry him, he's losing too much blood" Without a second thought. Armstrong nodded and carefully carried the wounded boy over his arm. Ed ran first then the Major followed from behind.

Alphonse saw the incoming two from the distance and noticed his brother running fast, without his red jacket. He then saw the Major and on his arms, he saw an old man full of wounds and on the abdomen, he saw his brother's jacket tied tightly; blood was dripping on the edges of the cloth.

"What's going on brother?!" he shouted with panicked on his tone.

"No time to explain" his brother told him.

Major Armstrong then carried him on the shoulder and ran towards Winry's house.

They arrived to their destination, Ed knocked at the door loudly, shouting his friend's name.

"WINRY!" He was sweating and panting; catching his breath. He heard a click then the door opened showing a girl with lemon colored hair and blue oceanic eyes. "Ed?" She looked at him. "What's the hurry?" She then eyed behind him and her expression changed to horror.

"Wha-"

"Explanations later" he pointed at the boy. "He lost a lot of blood and he-" he was cut off when Winry pulled his left arm. "Go in quick. Put him on the bed on the guest room"

It has been four days. The boy's grave injuries were treated by Winry and Granny Pinako, it took them five hours to save the boy's life and thanks to them, the wounds are now stitched up and now they have to wait for him to wake up. Ed decided to check up the boy. He didn't have anything to do anyways. He couldn't wait for his new automail arm to be finished but Winry said that she will finish it as soon as possible and he has to wait. 'Curse Scar for destroying his automail' he sighed.

He opened the door and entered the room where the boy was sleeping. He sat on the wooden chair near the boy and observed him. The boy has pure white snow hair. 'I wonder if it's natural' he thought. On his forehead, he could see an upside down pentacle like scar and it traced down towards the boy's cheek. 'How did he get this?' he then observed closely 'It looks like it burned to his skin' that thought send shivers down his spine.

Questions filled his mind. 'Who is he? Where does he come from? Where did he have that scar? What happened to his arm? What happened to him?'

His thoughts were interrupted when a wrench hit his head.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Ed turned around and saw Winry's tired and exhausted face. "You're automail is done" she said to him and he gave her a blank expression.

He saw Major Armstrong entered the room. "Any news from the boy?" he asked with a worry tone.

He and Winry looked at the sleeping figure of the boy. 'Judging from the boy's blood lost, he won't wake up anytime sooner' the boy twitched and a small smile formed on his face. 'He must be having a good dream' Ed then looked at his left exposed arm and noticed a cross like emblem attached to the front of his hand, it was faintly glowing. 'I wonder what that is…'

The boy twitched again and this time, his eyes slowly opened revealing gold eyes but something was wrong. The golden eyes flicked then it turned to Mercury ones. 'Was it a trick of the lights?' He shook his head. 'No, it's impossible, there's no way that it's a trick of the light, could it?'

Ed was deep in thought but was cut off when he felt that eyes were staring at him. Ed lifted his head and noticed that boy was staring at him

Mercury eyes meet Golden ones.

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'I'm alive?' Allen thought. He slowly opened his eyes and looked as his surroundings. He could feel a tug on the back of his head.

"**Gha…**" Neah whined. "**My head hurts**" He protested.

'What's wrong, Uncle?' Allen mentally asked with concern to his adopted uncle.

"**It's like I've been hit in the head by the stupid rabbit's hammer and stab at the same time**" He could clearly see Neah at the back of his mind rubbing the back of his head. 'Where are we?' He asked him. He took note his surroundings. He seemed to be inside a cabin. He noticed that there where people present inside the room, three in fact. What caught his attention was the golden haired and golden orbs of the boy just three feet away from him, he became stiff. 'A Noah?!' he screamed his thoughts.

"**Jeez, don't shout nephew, I don't want you to add more of this migraine on my head**" Neah then looked at the boy with the golden orbs and sighed. "**Relax, he's not a Noah**" Allen breathed out with relief. He then looked at the other occupants of the room. He saw a girl with blond hair and blue eyes and besides the door; he saw a very muscular man and his eyes seemed to sparkle. 'Neah, do you see what I'm seeing?' he asked his uncle.

"**You mean the person twice the size of the Earl's fat dummy demon form or the pink sparkles on his eyes?**"

'The pink sparkles…'

"**Then yes, I see it perfectly clear**" Neah said blankly to his nephew. Allen snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the concerned blond girl.

"Um… Where am I?" He asked the girl.

The girl smiled at him "You're in Rockbell's Automail Shop" Allen blinked.

"You're in Resembool" The girl said.

"Resembool?" He repeated. He never heard of that place before.

"**Uh-Oh…**" Neah said and his voice was like a whisper.

"**I think that we are not in the same world anymore….**"

Allen's eyebrow twitched. 'What do you mean? You have so much explaining to do, Neah' He mentally sigh

"**Yeah, Yeah**" Neah rubbed his head.

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Fruitloop-chan: Hey everyone! This is my first time doing a crossover so yeah, hope you enjoyed reading 8D


	2. Reunited with an old friend

**Fruitloop-chan:** Thank you so much for the reviews, favs and the likes 8D I will try my best to upload "Family" chapter soon! I promise

And now on with the chapter!~

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**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 2: Reunited with an old friend

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"**I don't know what happened though…**" Neah said as he put his left hand on his chin, thinking. "**I opened the gate to send you to Martel, so no one in the Order will find you and experiment on you**" He then closed his eyes and concentrated on remembering on what actually happened. "**But for some reason, you are sent here…" **Neah said, still thinking and remembering. "**There was nothing wrong with the Ark, I make sure of that**"Neah then opened his eyes and looked at him as if he remembered something important and yet he was not sure. Neah looked so confused. "**But, I do remember a metal door like gate in a pure white empty room.**" Neah then put a serious expression on his face and thinking, trying to remember; his left hand was on his chin again then a few minutes, his eyes widen and he was shaking uncontrollably. Allen could even hear Neah's fast heartbeat.

'Neah! What's wrong?!' He mentally screamed to his uncle and Neah didn't respond as if he didn't hear him.

'Uncle!'

Still no respond

Allen closed his eyes and tried to shake his uncle on his mind state. 'OI!' Allen shook him. 'Snap out of it Neah!' he shook him again. His uncle was in a bad condition. The heartbeat became louder and he swore that he could see fear on his eyes. Allen could hear something from him.

"**The m-metal door…"** Neah then screamed and kneeled in pain; gripping his head. "**It dragged us here…**" Neah then gritted his teeth. "**That f*cking thing drag us here**" Neah looked at his nephew. His golden eyes were in slits like those of a cat. Then after like forever, Neah loosen the gripped on his head; his skin was paler than usual and he was covered with sweat. He breathed in, catching his breath and slowly he looked at his hands, it was trembling.

'Uncle…' Allen kneeled to see his uncle.

"**Sorry Allen**" Neah said to him, still a little bit shaken up. "**I'm sorry to make you worry….**"

'You were in a great deal of pain, uncle! Why wouldn't I be worried?'

"**Ha… Ha…**" Neah laughed a little; putting his hand over his head, sheepishly. He sighed and looked at him with a little frown on his face.

'Please tell me what happened'

Neah sighed and swallowed a bit of air. "**T-The metal door…**" he then put his glove hands on his face. "**I don't know what it is…**" be paused for a little bit to gripped his chest. "**It manipulated the ark gate, somehow, dragging the whole ark on this place. I don't know how it done it. I remembered the ark was screaming in pain. I could hear the ark's loud screams. The ark begged me to stop it, but I don't know how…**" He then closed his eyes. "**I could still feel every doors of the ark being destroyed piece by piece, tearing the ark apart.**"

Neah sighed and put a small smile on his face. "**The ark somehow sealed temporarily the pained memories…**"

'I'm sorry, Neah…' Allen then looked down; his hair was covering his face. 'I made you remem-' Neah cut him off by putting his finger on the air, getting his attention.

"**It's not your fault my nephew~**" His uncle said gleefully and cheerfully. "**It's my fault. I was the one who forcefully remember myself on what happened.**" Neah then laughed.

"Um…" Allen snapped his eyes open and remembered that there were people in the room, talking to him. He laughed a little. "Sorry, I just remembered something, it was not that important" Allen apologized to the blond girl.

The girl looked at him worried. "You were a lil quiet in a long time… Is there something wrong or bothering you?" she put her hand on his shoulder. He doesn't want her to worry about him so he gave her a small smile and looked at her in the eyes. "I'm alright. It was not that important"

The girl smiled back weakly "So… do you remember on how you got here and how you got that badly wounded?" The blond girl asked him. "Ed found you. But, we don't know what happened to you though…" The girl said as she looked at him with curious and concerned blue eyes.

The boy with the golden hair stood and approached him getting the stool and sat on it next to him near the bed. "We found you at the bridge; you were hurt and bleeding to death. We would like to know what happened to you"

"**This boy is suspicious on us…**" Neah whispered to him.

'He is also observant just like Bookman'

"**Be careful Allen. Try to make up a good alibi on these guys**"

Allen nodded slightly and swallowed a bit of air. "I don't remember how I got here…" He said; thinking of a good alibi. "All I remember was, I was just performing on the street…" he then looked up to the left.

The boy cut him off then looked at him; observing him. "You're a street performer?" the boy asked.

Allen nodded. "I'm a travelling street performer, a clown in fact, I travelled to places and performed magic tricks to put a smile on everyone's faces" he said and smiled which was totally and completely true. He was a clown, travelling with his foster father a long time ago and after he escaped the Order, he at least earn a little money to eat and get an inn to sleep in and travel; moving from place to place for him to escape the Independent Innocence, Apocyphos with his clown antics. He shrugged. "It's the only thing I know and can do. After all, I can't read and write" he put a hand on his head and laughed a little.

The boy then nodded and looked at him, as if telling him to continue on his story "So, yeah…" he then looked away "I felt pain, a lot of pain and the next thing I knew, I'm here, talking to you"

Neah smirked. "**Nice act and story, Allen**"

'Thanks, I learned from the best' he mentally laughed.

Neah laughed. "**Good thing that stupid rabbit thought you how to make an alibi in tight situations such as this one**"

'Always make an alibi on one of your journeys'

Allen felt a little sting on his left arm and when he looked at it. The Innocence was glowing dimly losing its glow. Neah crossed his arms "**It seems that you survived because of Crown clown… trying its best to healing you. It seems that it won't let you die that easily**" There was venom in those words. He knew that Neah despise the Innocence and he wanted Allen to finally rest but the Innocence won't let him die just like that. He doesn't want to blame Crown Clown, it was only protecting its accommodator.

'It's okay Crown Clown, I'm alive, you can stop now' He closed his eyes and he put his right hand on the cross on the middle of his hand. The glow faded and Allen smiled.

"What's your name by the way?" He opened his eyes and looked at the blond girl who asked him.

Allen gave her a warm smile. "It's Allen. Allen Walker"

"Mine is Winry, Winry Rockbell" the girl, who was now he knows as Winry said and smiled at him. She then pointed to the golden haired boy. "That's Edward" then she pointed to the muscular man, which still creeps him out because of the pink sparkles. "And that's Major Armstrong" the man nodded.

"It's a pleasure to meet you and thank you for saving me" putting a façade and bowed his head.

Winry then asked him "How old are you Allen?" Allen smiled. "I'm 17, Ms. Rockbell"

If stares could kill, he would be dead by now. Both of the men inside the room was staring at him and observing him. Good thing that he could hide his uneasiness on this two with ease. His days in the Order and with Inspector Link following him around in every corner their eyes observed you in everywhere you go and an annoying Kanda giving you death glares as a bonus. It thought him to cover and put a mask on.

"**Ms. Rockbell seems to be nice. She kind of reminds me of Lenalee**"

A picture of Lenalee flashed into Allen's mind. She was smiling at him then another flash of picture of her when she was stabbed on her abdomen, all bloody and dead. He gripped his head trying to sustain his tears and his upcoming headache. Winry then again put her hand on his shoulder. When he looked at her, she looked so worried. A small sad smile formed on his face.

"Don't worry about me, Ms. Rockbell" he said. "It's just a small headache, that's all"

Winry stood up. "I bet you're hungry, I'll go fetch some food for you, okay Allen?" she then left, leaving him with the other two in the room. When the doors were closed; the aura inside the room intensified, he could feel that the aura is suffocating him slowly.

The boy Edward looked at him in the eyes. Those golden orbs sure do reminded him a lot of the Noahs. "If you don't mind me asking" He pointed at his arm and his scar. "What happened to your arm and how did you get that?"

Allen sighed and put his hand on his cursed mark. "As for your first question, I was born with this deformed hand and for your second question; I got this scar from my father after I turned him an Akuma"

"**Ah… Allen…**" Neah said but went quiet when he looked at Edward's expression.

This made Edward blinked a few times. "You're kidding, right?" Edward then made an expression of I-don't-believe-you kind of look. "A demon? Seriously? You made your dad a demon? Demon's don't exist. It's unscientific and there's no proof that they even exist"

He could feel Neah's anger on the back of his mind. "**How dare he-!**" Allen stopped him. 'Uncle, calm down… we're not in our world remember? We can't just go rampaging on him'

"**But he's insulting you! He's insulting Mana!**" Neah screamed.

Allen sighed and looked at Edward. "It's okay that you won't believe me, many already told me that I'm a crazy clown I won't mind, what I say is true and it's up to you to believe or not" Allen smiled. "Would you believe me if I told you that… I can see Human souls with my left eye?"

Edward burst of laughing. "Is this one of your clown antics? If it is, you're not fooling me or anyone here with that one but it is hilarious!"

Allen remained smiling at him. "Fine, fine" Even though it was true. Then an idea popped on his head. "Then would you believe me that I got this scar when I tried to revive someone from the grave?" This made Edward snapped out of his laughing. The aura of the room darkened and when he looked at Major Armstrong and noticed that the pink sparkles on his eyes disappeared.

"Ah… Did I say something wrong?"

Neah noticed a rage and anger on Edward's eyes. "Human transmutation is illegal, you can't revive the dead. The dead will stay dead"

This time it was Allen's turn to be curious. "Human Transmutation? Illegal?"

"You mean you can revive the dead here in this place?!" Allen shouted in surprise.

"NO! THAT'STHE GREATEST TABBOO IN ALCHEMY, DON'T YOU KNOW THAT?!" Edward shouted.

"**Alchemy?**" Neah's curiosity perked up.

Allen scratched the back of his head. "Geez, there's no need to shout Mr. Edward, but what I said is true and it's the truth"

"I revived someone from the grave"

"You gotta be shiting me" Suppressing his anger, Edward backed off a little, taking a deep breath. "You haven't answered my question yet" Allen sighed and shrugged. Edward kept quiet waiting for his explanation.

"**Will you be okay Allen?**"

'It's okay Neah, I need to tell them the truth… I don't care if they won't believe me'

Allen took a deep breath "You see Mr. Edward, this scar. It was given to me by my father when I was ten years old. When I tried to revive him…" Edward twitched and about to shout at him again but was stopped when Allen's eyes turned to a deadly gold glaring at him but then turned into mercury ones.

"I don't know if you will believe me or not… I don't care…" Allen sighed.

"You see, my real parents left me and abandoned me when I was still a baby because of my deformed left hand as you can see." He raised his left arm. "People, adults and children alike despise me, calling me a monster, a Demon, the Devil's Child, throwing rocks on me or beating me to death. On my early years of life, I worked at the circus; doing odd jobs for the ringmaster, being the one who is beaten by other circus employees and also the ringmaster when they don't have much money on their performance. I thought that I was alone in the world. Then I met him, I met my father, Mana" Allen smiled as he remembered his face. "I was sitting on a grave of a dog and on top of it, it was a small ball, he played with. I didn't know what happened to it on how it died. But I was there, looking at the grave. There he was, Mana, he had a really goffy make up for a clown." He chuckled on the memories. "I was talking to him and I realized that he was the owner of the dog and the dog's name was Allen. At first, I didn't want to talk to him, I have heard many rumors that Mana was a crazy clown and it was a true fact. He almost gave me a heart attack when he started to hang himself on the tree just to tell me a joke" Allen chuckled again. "But he was the only person who talked to me. Who didn't try to get rid of me or throw rocks on me... I was grateful"

"I never saw him in a couple of days, but I saw him again, it was a snowy night of December 25th. He was searching for me and he gave me a chance to travel with him… he adopted me like I was his real son…"

"He was not my biological father, we were not related by blood but he was the only one that accepted me. He treated me as a human… He gave me a name; he gave me the love of a parent that every child deserves and he adopted me, accepting me even with this deformed hand that everyone despise off"

"**Allen…**" Neah comforted him.

Edward was still observing him and when he looked at the Major he was holding the tear on his eyes.

"I thought that my miserable life was over… For once in my life, I felt normal" he sighed and smiled.

"Me and my father, Mana travelled the world, performed on the street, doing tricks and exhibitions and acrobatics to make people smile, even though that we don't have a warm house or a comfy bed, but with him around, I don't care even we sleep on the streets." Allen smiled.

"Then there was the day, when everything on my life turned up-side down. It was the day…that…" he paused and closed his eyes.

"Mana died." Allen held his left hand.

"I was alone again in the accursed world; the only family I had… the one who gave me a purpose to live, who gave me love and care… Dead… Oh how I wished to see his silly smile again"

"Don't tell me that you performed Human Transmutation?" Edward interrupted him. Allen looked at him and his hand and he noticed that the knuckles of his hand turned white as he tightened his grip.

Allen blinked and tilted his head "I still don't know this Human Transmutation you speak off" He said to Edward and he remained quiet and Allen continued his story.

"On his grave… I was left alone and cold. My knees won't move, I was too tired to even move my body. I can't move on without him, I feel so numb. Then the devil arrived" Allen laughed a little bit and remembered the Earl. "You can picture this man as the Devil, his grin was wide and it reaches almost on his ears, but even though he looked like that, he was fat, as the size of two people combined. You can't even feel scared at first because he looked like a clown instead of the Devil"

Neah chuckled and smirked. "**I still question Earl's sanity on why he wears the skin.**"

'Now that you say that, I now wonder why he wears that skin' Allen mentally said to Neah and continued on the story

"This devil went to me and offered an unbelievable offer that I can't resist" Allen sighed.

"Was it to revive your father, Mr. Walker?" Major Armstrong asked.

Allen nodded.

"He told me that he can revive the dead... He has the power to bring the souls that God has taken… He can revive Mana… But with my cooperation" Allen then gripped his hand.

"All I have to do was to call his name… call out for Mana… Shout his name to the heavens"

Allen then looked down, his hair covering his eyes "He did revive, Mana"

Edward and Mr. Armstrong widen their eyes.

"I heard his voice, calling out my name…" Allen then let go the grip on his arm.

"At first, I was happy, Mana was alive again…but he was not human… He was an Akuma… A demon… a monster… I could hear him cursed my name over and over again and gave me this scar…"

Allen then held his scar. "This was my punishment. His curse upon me for turning him into that thing"

"In the end, I killed him with my bare hands"

Allen then smiled to the two occupants of the room. Edward then observed him. "So where is this devil?" he asked. Allen smiled and looked at Edward.

"Don't worry about him, he's dead and he won't bother anyone anymore" Allen shook his head.

Edward's eyebrow rise "I see…"

All of the sudden, the Major grabbed him. "EHH?!" Allen screamed and he was wrapped tightly, he was now in the deadly tight hugs of the Major.

"**TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT!**" Neah shouted out in Allen's head. The pink sparkles were back and he was crying, his eyes were like fountains. Wait, not fountains, they looked like streaming waterfalls.

"Allen Walker, such a sad childhood you have! Why I would like to adopt you know if I have to! I shall make a call to the Armstrong household! You are always welcome to my family!" The major said.

"C-Can't B-breat-th" Allen muttered on his breath. "M-Major, S-sir, please can you l-let go of me?" the major let go of him and he catch his breath. He swallowed a lot of air.

"**THIS GUY IS CREEPIER THAN THE EARL!**" shouted Neah

'No one beats the Earl and his creppy-ness'

"**OH COME ON ALLEN, THIS GUY HUGGED YOU AND ALMOST SNAPPED YOUR NECK AND YOUR BACK INTO HALF**"

'I'm still alive, he didn't done any permanent damaged on me'

"**BUT!**" Neah protested.

'Just give him a chance Uncle…'

"**Fine**" Neah shrugged. "**But if he did that one more time, I will kill him, good thing that he didn't open the stitches on your wound**"

Allen rolled his eyes. 'You and your nephew complex'

"**What was that?**"

'Oh nothing, nothing'

He felt something heavy on his shoulder and was put on the bed. "You should rest, Allen Walker" Allen looked at the Major and smiled. "Major Armstrong, sir. Please call me, Allen"

Allen turned his head and looked at Edward. He was thinking position. He was now interested on his missing limb. "Mr. Edward, I've been wondering, how did you lost your arm?"

Edward look up and answered "Childhood accident"

Allen nodded and judging from Edward's tone, he sounded like a grumpy Kanda

"**With that serious thinking phase, he reminded me of that stupid rabbit**"

"He reminded me of Kanda"

* * *

After hearing Allen's story, He reminded of what he, himself and his little brother's experience. Who lost a love one and wanted to revive just to see their smiles. But, on Allen's story, he didn't perform Human Transmutation… He didn't even know what Alchemy was for crying out loud! This Devil and Demon he talked about didn't make sense.

Could he be lying?

No, there was no hesitation on his story. He's eyes were not lying, he could see sadness, longing and desire on those eyes.

"Mr. Edward, I've been wondering, how did you lost your arm?"

He looked him and answered "Childhood accident"

Ed noticed that Allen didn't questioned him any further. It was strange, normally, people asked on what the childhood accident was. But the strangest thing was Allen's eyes, flickering from mercury orbs to golden ones. Was it just a disease or a trick of the light?

"He reminded me of Kanda…" he heard Allen faintly whispered.

"Kanda?" Ed looked at Allen, curiously.

Allen blinked and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, you heard that?" Ed nodded. "Hmm…"Allen hummed and put his hand on his chin. "Kanda… Kanda was a friend of mine. Well, he was my friend and also not friend… We always fought and calling each other nicknames. I called him stupid Kanda while he called me Beansprout…He reminded me a lot of you Mr. Edward"

Ed's eye brow rise "And why is that Allen?"

Allen smiled. "You're tone and also your high temper" Ed's eyebrow twitched. Allen then hummed and laughed a little. "Also, I can see in your eyes that you are determined to reach your goals" Allen chuckled. "I wish you a lot of luck and also I believed that you will reach your goal one day"

Major Armstrong then looked at Allen. "Why are you referring your friend in the past tensed manner, Allen Walker?"

Allen put a sad smile on his face. "Please call me, Allen, Major Armstrong, sir" he then looked down. "Well, you see sir…" There was a long pause. "He's dead… It was just recently but yeah… I guess… at least I gave him a proper farewell"

Allen closed his eyes and slowly got off the bed. "Whoa, Easy!" Ed put his hand on Allen's shoulder. "You're not ready and well yet, the stitches will pop open if you continue to move and push yourself"

"I'm fine, Mr. Edward" he smiled. "I don't like to be on the bed for a long time and I need to keep going… I have to continue on my way…"

Major Armstrong put Allen in his bed. "Please, Allen Walker, you should rest, that wound of yours will open and you don't want that now, do you?" Allen sighed in defeat. "Fine…" he crossed his arms. Ed looked at the door and saw Winry came in with a tray of toasts and…. Gah… Milk… Why did Winry even brought that disgusting liquid here?

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting, I brought with me toasts and a glass of milk" Winry said as she settled the tray to the table near Allen.

Allen smiled at her. "Thank you Ms. Rockbell" then he grabbed the toast of bread.

* * *

Allen needed to leave. He shouldn't be here. He needed to keep walking. He chewed slowly the toast on his hands and looked at the only window. He saw a beautiful plain valley of grasses. It looked so peaceful.

"**There's no need to rush, Allen**" Neah said and smiled at him "**Maybe this world wouldn't be that bad. You're the new Earl of Millennium… You might help this world in the future~ Who knows? Just think the possibilities~**"

He took another bite.

"_GIVE HIM BACK!_"

Allen blinked. 'Did you hear that uncle?' he asked Neah. "**Hm? I don't hear anything, what was it?**" he took another bite. 'It's like a child screami-'

Allen was now in an empty white void. How did he get here?

"_GIVE HIM BACK!_" The voice sounded like a child that was coming from his back. When he looked at his back, he could see a huge metal door.

A Metal door…

Neah mentioned on seeing a metal door before… 'Could it be?!'

The door slowly opened, slowly revealing the inky black abyss inside of it. He needed to get away fast. He started to run fast.

"_GIVE MY BROTHER BACK!_"

The metal doors opened wide; wind of gust was filled the room, knocking Allen on the floor.

"_HE'S THE ONLY FAMILY I LEFT YET_"

Allen looked back and saw a giant eye looking at his very soul.

"**SNAP OUT OF IT ALLEN!**"

He was now on the room. He didn't noticed that the bread dropped on the bed. Good thing no one noticed. It seemed that the three on them were having a friendly conversation. 'What was that?' He wondered then took a deep breath and took the sandwich and continued eating. '**What's wrong, Allen?**'Neah said; worried about him.

He chewed slowly. 'I saw the metal door'

"**WHAT?!**"

'I dunno how I ended up there… but something about that door or gate or whatever… It felt like the Earl… But it was more powerful than the Earl himself… What was it?'

"**Whatever it is, it's bad news… It dragged the ark here… and drag us here… I don't know what it wants but we will find out soon Allen.**"

Allen nodded; agreeing with Neah. He then heard a light tap on the window. He turned to it and it made his heart jump out of his throat.

There on the window, was a small golden like ball with wings and it had a light yellow cross like design on the middle. It was tapping on the window using its little hands.

"TIMCANPY!"

He couldn't believe his eyes. He quickly dashed over the window and opened it. Letting the little golem entered and fly off to him, snuggling his cheek.

"Where have you been, Tim?!" Allen then put the golem on his hand. "I was worried sick! I thought that I lost you!" tears were escaping Allen's eyes and he snuggled the golem.

He forgot that there were people inside the room. Staring at him wide eyed.

TBC

* * *

Hope you guys like the chapter 8D


	3. State Alchemists and the Clown's Curious

**Fruitloop-chan: ** wait! You just updated this 2 days ago why would you update this early?! Well, I have my reasons but hey, I'm just enjoying this~ And I got the time of the world in my hands, but to recent blackouts in my place, and I can't do my manga work and it's a pain on not doing anything!

So anyways! Thank you so much for the reviews!

_To Halley_: I'm not sure if I have to put OC's on the fic, I don't write with OC's sadly, I fail at it *insert mini sweat drop here*

_To everyone else_: Thank you for the reviews! It means a lot to me! ( ; w ; )

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 3: State Alchemists and the Clown's curiosity

* * *

Allen cried as he saw his golem, Timcanpy.

"Tim, what happened to you? Where have you been? I was worried sick! I thought that I lost you!" he said to the golem with his eyes full of tears. The golem on his hands was crying also then it shook his head to shake the imaginary tears away; it was flapping his wings, greeting his master and the way telling him that he was okay. Allen smiled. He was glad that his golem was alive and well. "Tim, can you show me where you were and how you got here?" he asked the little golem on his hands. It nodded to him and opened his mouth showing his pointy set of teeth but it was interrupted and stopped when he heard a shout behind him.

"What the hell is that thing?" he heard Edward shouted as he pointed at Tim.

Allen smiled and looked at Edward. "No need to be alarmed, Mr. Edward" he then looked at everyone in the room.

"This is Timcanpy. He's my golem" he said, introducing his old friend.

Edward then looked at Timcanpy on his hands. "Golem?" Allen heard him asked. Edward curiously observed as he slowly got close to them. He was a foot away from him and observed Tim in every edge. "What does it do?" Edward asked him.

Allen smiled. "You'll see" then he looked at Tim. "Show me how you got here, Tim"

The golem nodded once again and opened its mouth wide. Edward was taken by surprise and stare at some kind of screen above the golem's mouth.

There was a projector like holographic screen presented to him. The screen was white then it catches a few more images. He saw a city; the city was wide and beautiful. People were walking down the street. The buildings were tall and full of intricate designs that reminded him when he was on Germany, where he first met Miranda Lotto in Rewinding Town. A sad smile formed on his lips as he remembered the past. He then turned his attention back to the screen.

When Tim went up to see the entire view of the city, there was something white on the center of it, he flew towards the center. He saw a white wall that has a strange green like tapestry on it and when he turned to his side, there were green flags that held the same designs like on the wall. The design on it was like a lion painted in white.

'I wonder what that means' Allen thought.

He could see Timcanpy flew on top of the wall, the center was a vast open space and he landed on an open window. He surveyed the area, left and right, he could see a lot of people wearing a navy blue military uniform walking around; they were busy on talking about someone named Scar. Nobody seemed to notice Tim so the golem jumped off the window and landed on the floor, he was walking to random rooms and found himself lost in the building.

He heard footsteps behind him; he turned around and then there was a woman with blond hair, her hair was clipped tightly behind her, she was carrying a large pile of paperwork on her arms then she noticed Timcanpy. The woman went near to Tim and now he could see clearly the whole feature of the woman's face. She wore a serious expression on her face and she has brown eyes.

"**Her serious eyes reminded me of General Klaud**" Neah commented as he observed the figure on the hologram.

In the room, Edward and Winry shouted then went close to the holographic screen. "That's Lieutenant Hawkeye!"

"You know her?" Allen asked them but they remind quiet as they stared at the screen with awe in their eyes. He sighed and looked back at the screen.

Back to the screen, Timcanpy stopped and pretended that he was just a child's toy. He didn't move an inch, he resisting the urge to move his tail. Putting the paper on the floor, the Lieutenant picked him up and put Tim on her shoulder and after that she carried the paper work on her hands as they walked to hallways. They entered to a room somewhere on the building and saw a table filled with papers.

"**So this world has a lazy bump like Komui?**" Neah chuckled.

"Sir, there was another report of Scar's sighting on Central just east of the city" the girl on the screen, Hawkeye was it? Told someone in the table full of paperwork.

"Just put it on the table, Lieutenant" the man addressed her. She then closed the door behind her putting the papers on the table and the man looked at her.

Allen saw the man. He has black charcoal like hair also paired with his black eyes.

Allen then looked at Winry. "Who is he?" he asked her.

"That's Colonel Mustang" Winry answered.

Neah chuckled. "**I bet that man hates to do his paperwork, just look at his face, he hated to be in that table**" he smirked."**I wonder what kept him from not doing his work… what do you think, nephew?**"

'I don't know… maybe someone or something in the military? Maybe giving him death threats, if he won't do his paper work?' Allen thought.

Neah laughed. "**Like Lenalee not giving Komui his everyday coffee and Reever and the science division crew giving him blackmails that they will destroy his precious Komurins?**" He continued to laugh at the back of his head.

Back to the screen, the man then pointed at Tim. "What is that, Lieutenant?" Hawkeye grabbed Tim gently then put it on the table. "It's some kind of toy, sir, I found it lying around inside the hallway, and I decided to pick it up. A child must have lost it" The man, Mustang stopped on what he was doing then slowly observed Tim. He then put his hands on the wings then his tiny horns and his tail earning a little twitched on the golem. He then stretched his face, showing a shiny set of pointy teeth. He put Tim in the table then poked him. Out of the sudden, maybe out of annoyance, Tim bit Mustang with his pointy teeth.

On the room, Edward was laughing his lungs out.

"Serves that Colonel Bastard!" He then continued on laughing.

Winry took out her wrench; getting Edward a really good big smack on the head.

Neah and Allen looked at the two. "**Ouch**" Neah said as he rubbed his head like the wrench's fatal impact blow on his head instead. "**That will leave a really big bump**… **I hope the little guy won't have a concussion after that**"

For some reason, Edward twitched and looked at Allen in the eye; he could sense his anger and annoyance in the air. "Did you say something?" Edward asked him. Allen blinked and tilted his head.

"Huh?"

"Did you call me little?" Edward asked and said to him and he could sense annoyance in that tone. Allen shook his head. "I didn't say anything, Mr. Edward"

Neah laughed. "**So this Edward is sensitive about his height huh?**" He then turned to his nephew. "**Kind of reminding me of someone**"

'Really funny, Neah' Allen sarcastically said to him.

Neah chuckled. "**At least someone is smaller than you now**" Allen twitched in irritation.

Back to the screen, Tim never let go of the man. The man was crying in pain then he tried to pull Tim's tail "Let go you stupid thing!" Mustang cursed. Tim still didn't let go of the man's finger, in much annoyance on pulling his tail, he tighten his bite into the finger, drawing blood.

"**That will leave a nasty scar**" Neah commented.

He noticed that the Lieutenant pointed a gun on him. Seeing this, made him let go and fly off the door, a shot was fired, it missed him by a few inches and when he looked at the door, it was close. He forgot that the door was closed and he flew off randomly in the office, finding a way to get out. The papers were scattered on the floor, the room was filled with tiny bullet holes, making the room completely in chaos. The Lieutenant fired more shots to him and Timcanpy gracefully dodge every bullet. Then he saw the open window and flew to his escape then he was now in the open sky, she was still firing shots at him and he was directly hit on his wings, he was still flying but failing to remain his balance, but he safely got away, barely. He then landed on the roof with a thud, looking left and right for any signs of danger, his wings slowly regenerate then he took another flight.

He was near on a train station and when it began to move, he landed on the train and rested his sore wings

Back to the room, Tim closed his mouth and Allen brushed Tim's wings.

"I'm sorry Timcanpy…" He gently brushed the "was" injured wing.

The golem flap his wings then landed on Allen's shoulder and snuggled his master then fly to Allen's head and nested there.

"That was priceless!" Edward was still laughing his lungs out. "Wait till I see Colonel Bastard, his expression was priceless! Serves him right!"

Winry again hit him on the head. "He is your Commanding Officer! Show at least some respect Ed!" she said shouted at Edward, who was rubbing his head.

Allen then looked at them and smiled. A flash went to his mind, he saw his friends laughing.

He then noticed Edward and Winry looking at him and laughed a little. "Don't mind me, I'm just thinking, it's not that important" he then rubbed the back of his head.

Major Armstrong got close to Allen and he seemed to be looking on the bandages on his chest. When he looked at it, he could see a faint blood stain on the bandages. "No need to be troubled, Major Armstr-" He was cut off when he was dragged to bed again.

After half an hour, he was stitched up again. It seemed that the stitch popped out when he jump out of the bed rushing over the window. Allen sighed. Here he was again, in the bed, slowly chewing the toast. The major was left to guard him. Winry said after she finished patching him was that, she has to install Edward's automail?

'I wonder what an automail is…' he thought.

A few minutes had passed…

This silence was unnerving, making him uncomfortable. Allen was curious… Is Major Armstrong part of the military that he saw on Timcanpy's recorded memories? And Edward… he's in that military too? He looked so young… It was like the Black Order all over again.

He sighed. Allen then noticed that Timcanpy was eating the remaining bread on the plate. He smiled.

"**Did you see those people? They look like that they are in their twenties or thirties and Edward maybe their youngest recruit, maybe he wanted to join the military for a reason**" Neah said. "**Or forced**" he added.

'I doubt it Neah, I don't see people in Edward's age in Tim's memories'

"**We didn't really see the whole area of the military, who knows what they are hiding**"

'Maybe uncle… we shouldn't jump into conclusions just yet… It's not like the Order where if you are compatible with Innocence they will take you away from your family and force to fight a pointless war' Allen thought and sighed.

"**We shall never know Allen**"

'We should ask him later' he said to his uncle.

"Allen Walker"

Allen snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the Major. "You've been awfully quiet. Something in your mind bothering you?"

"**Oh no, I'm not a bother on my nephew**" Neah joked.

He smiled then shook his head. "None at all, Major, Sir… I'm just wondering, if you are part of that military and all and also Mr. Edward" he asked. The Major look and nodded to him. "We are part of the Military, me and Edward Elric are in a special division of the military, we are called State Alchemists"

"State Alchemists?" Allen tilted his head.

The Major nodded again. "We serve the State and also to the people, we specialized in the field of Alchemy"

Allen put a hand on his head. "I've been hearing the word 'Alchemy' over and over again, what is it? If you don't mind me asking, sir"

"You never heard of Alchemy?" he heard the Major asked then nodded.

Allen thought for a second. He did remember Alchemy back home, but he only knew that it was just mixing chemicals and making golems back in the Order and only the Science Division knew how to use it. He looked at the major "I guess I heard about Alchemy… A friend of mine use it but I doubt we are not talking the same 'Alchemy'… does it have to do on mixing chemicals and making things?" he asked the Major.

The Major then sat on the small chair. "Partly, yes" he said and explained to him in a simple manner.

"You see, Allen Walker, Alchemy is a science" The Major told him. "We alchemist follow the conservation of mass, following the Law of Equivalent Exchange" Allen tilt his head in confusion. "In order to gain something of equal value, one must sacrifice the same equal value in return. That is the Law of Equivalent Exchange"

Neah nodded in fascination. "**So it's like Karma, if you done something good for a fellow being then good luck will bless you**"

'But I don't understand… what does Karma anything to do with the military?' he thought as he put his hand on his chin, thinking. Then the major continued on explaining.

"Alchemy uses this sequence, Allen Walker" he then put a finger in the air. "The first phase is Comprehension. We Alchemists must understands the inherent structure and properties of the atomic or molecular makeup of a particular material to be transmuted"

'Transmute?' Allen wondered.

Neah's arms crossed. Listening to what the major will say.

The major continued. "The second phase is Deconstruction; it is using the energy to break down the physical structure of the identified material into a more malleable state so as to be easily reshaped into a new form"

Neah then put his hands on his chin. "**So you must understand the physical structure of the thing then destroy it and making it a new thing?**" he said as he absorb the information slowly.

"The last phase is Reconstruction, it's continuing the flow of energy so as to reform the material into a new shape."

Allen tried to absorb the new information on his head. "So if I make something out of wood… like a statue, I need wood to make it right, major sir?" the major nodded. Allen then looked at the Major "Can you demonstrate to me, Alchemy, Major, sir?" he asked.

The door opened and when he looked at who entered the room, it was Edward and he could clearly see the metal limb, his right arm.

Neah whistled. "**That's some metal limb prosthetic**"

Allen shivered. 'That looks painful'

Major Armstrong then looked at Edward. "Ah, Edward Elric, good timing" he said. Edward blinked and curiously looked at the major. "What is it Major?" Edward asked the muscular man. Major then looked at him then back to Edward. "Can you demonstrate a little of your alchemy to Allen Walker?" Edward gave Allen a big grin and slowly goes next to the bed. Edward kneeled and took a chalk. Allen observed as he draws a circle and some lines inside the circle.

"**A drawing?**" Neah asked.

Once he was done, he put the chalk back on his pocket. "Watch and be amazed" Edward said to Allen.

He clapped his hands and smacked it on the wooden floor. He noticed blue lightning sparked and when the lightning faded. Allen looked at the floor and his eyes widen with fascination and the same time curiosity. On the floor was a wooden figure of Timcanpy.

"That is called a Transmutation, Allen Walker" the major told him. He then pointed at the circle. "This is the transmutation circle. It focuses and dictates the flow of power, tapping into the energies that already existed within the earth and matter.

Tim flew over the wooden figure of him and tapped it making sure it was real. Allen stared at it in awe. He got out of the bed and touched the wooden figure of Timcanpy. "Amazing…" he said filled with wonder.

"**It's like using everything the Earth has to offer… You can make a weapon from the air or the earth! So maybe that's why it can use as a weapon for the military!**"

Allen then looked at Edward. "Mr. Edward sir, if I may ask… Does everyone know this kind of alchemy? Or only special people can do this special ability?"

Edward stood and brushed off an imaginary dust on his shoulder. "Everyone can do Alchemy" he said. "But many of them didn't practice it because it needs time and a lot of practice to even perfect it" Allen nodded, understanding. It was still amazing to see that Alchemy could do such a thing.

'So, Edward isn't forced to go to the military… everyone knows how this alchemy works in this world'

He saw Timcanpy fly then landed on his head. Edward then looked at the golem. "Allen, can I hold him?" he pointed at Tim.

"Sure" Allen smiled. He gently grab Timcanpy. "Tim, you should behave. Don't go biting his fingers okay?" he instructed to his golem and Tim nodded. He then looked at Edward and slowly hand him Timcanpy. "Just be careful of him, Mr. Edward, he doesn't like to be stretched just like what your commanding officer did to him" he said to him.

"Allen, does Timcanpy have a soul in it?"

"Soul?" he asked then looked at Tim in his hands. "Tim has a personality but he doesn't have a soul" he smiled and pat Tim's head. "He's kind of'machinery' … but with his personality installed, he acts like a living being" he laughed.

Edward closely observed the golem once again. "Did you make it?" he asked and Allen shook his head. "No" he answered. "My uncle made this" he smiled. "I don't know how he made it thought…"

Neah chuckled. "**Believe me, it's a loooongg process**"

Edward still stared Tim then sighed.

"I see"

* * *

As Ed stared and observe the golem. Oh he wanted to conduct experiments on this little golem finding on what it makes it move and tick. How did it move even without a soul as Allen explained earlier? This golem was so advanced beyond his comprehension. The golem then flew off and nested in his hair and it fell asleep. 'It can sleep too?' Ed thought.

He saw Allen laughed. "It seems Tim likes you" Allen said.

Ed smiled, wait till Al sees this. He will be amazed to see this. 'Wait… AL!' he remembered, he hasn't fixed Al yet! He rushed towards the door "I'll be back in a minute, Allen. I have to see my little brother" then closed it leaving Allen with the major.

As he opened the door leading outside, he saw Al looking at Den then he noticed him.

"Brother!" he heard Al shouted at him. Ed smiled to his little brother. "Okay, let's get you fix up, Al!" he carried the crate where the other pieces of the armor was then put the pieces of his brother's armor in front of him. He removed the helmet then clapped his hands. He put his hands on the blood seal rune of the armor, just near the neck then a flash of blue lightning was created then as the flash end, his little brother was not a destroyed armor anymore.

Al slowly stood. "Thank you, big brother" Ed smiled then gave the armor a good smack. "Don't mention it Al!" he said.

On his head, he could feel Timcanpy move.

"What's that, brother?" Al asked him pointing Tim on his head.

Ed gently grabbed the golem to his hands then put it on Al's hands. "Allen told me that this lil guy is a golem, its name is Timcanpy" he said to his little brother.

"Timcanpy? Golem?" Al asked him and he shook his head. "I don't have a slight idea on what a golem is but Tim here can record on what it sees and experience" he said as he pointed at Tim. Al then looked at closer then rubbed Tim's head with the glove hand of his armor. "His cute" he heard his little brother said. The golem then flew off and landed on Al's shoulder then rubbed the metal neck plate.

"Tim seems to like you too"

They both turn around and saw Allen, standing near the door and behind him was the major.

"Allen!" Ed shouted. The golem stopped snuggling the armor then went back to his master then landed on his soft white hair. Allen smiled. "You shouldn't be out of bed! Winry's going to kill you if your stitches pop up again."

"Its okay, Mr. Edward" he said as he smiled at him. "I need to get out of the bed and breathe some of the fresh air; Major Armstrong heard my request so he assisted me to go here"

Ed noticed something wrong about him and when he slowly looked at his left eye, he noticed some kind of pentagram under its irises. He got a bad feeling about it. The major seemed to be staring at something on his back and when he turned his around. He saw chains dangling in midair.

"Brother?"

He looked at his little brother as chains were floating around the armor and when he looked above. He saw a split image of a child Alphonse, he looked like when he was ten years old and covering around him was chains. He remembered Allen saying something before…

"_Would you believe me that I can see Human souls using my left eye?_"

'Is this Al's soul?' Ed thought and swallowed the air that was stuck on his throat.

Allen then slowly goes near them "So this is your little brother Mr. Edward" he put a sad smile on his face. Ed still remained glued on where he was standing. This was impossible. Impossible! Standing in front of him is his little brother's soul, what were the chains? Did it hold him unto the armor? Do the chains hurt him?

"Your soul doesn't suffer… Not like the Akumas…" he heard Allen whispered.

Allen was now standing in front of his little brother. "It's a pleasure to meet you Edward's brother, my name is Allen Walker and you can call me Allen" he smiled.

Al was a little bit shocked and snapped to reality. "Ah! It's a pleasure to meet you Allen, I'm Alphonse. Alphonse Elric." Allen nodded.

"How did you end up in that armor, Mr. Alphonse?" he put his left hand on the armor

Al was shocked but remained a calm posture. "What do you mean, Allen?" Al asked. Allen closed his eyes and seemed to be in deep concentration as Ed observed then afterwards he noticed something was glowing on Allen's hand. When he looked at Al, he could see on his soul reacting and glow dimly, the chains were slowly disintegrating. Ed panicked, what was Allen doing to him?! He ran towards them separating the two and punched Allen in the face using his metal right hand. Allen was thrown five feet away from them and landed on the floor head first.

"WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING TO MY LITTLE BROTHER?!" Ed shouted to him.

"Brother…."

He turned around to look at his little brother. "Al, what did he do?"

"I feel… warm… warmth for the first five years… I also felt lighter for some reason brother…"

"You can feel?" Ed was shocked by his brother's words. He then turned to Allen who was still on the ground sitting; the golem was flying circles around Allen's head. He was touching the bruise on his face; his punch left a nasty bruise. He then saw the Major ran towards him and help him up.

'What the hell is he?'

'What did he do?'

'What was that glow?'

Allen then looked at him and instead of being angry to him for punching him in the face; he just smiled like nothing happened to him, like the punch didn't bother him at all. Ed then stared and as he stared, he could swear that something was behind him, towering Allen above. It was something very familiar to him, but where? It was a blur figure of a being that seemed to wear a white suit with a black matching ribbon on its neck. Its face was white with hollow white eyes that seemed to struck daggers on his soul shredded him apart and it was grinning at him that made his heart skipped a beat. He's breathing was stopped. That grin, it was just like the white being, the guardian of the gate.

'Truth…'

"What are you?" Ed, finding his voice and said in a quiet whisper.

Allen put his hand over his head and chuckled.

"I'm just a clown how knows a little about souls" he said gleefully.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Allen's head…**

Neah was fuming with anger. "**HOW DARE HE PUNCH YOU!**" He then let out a deadly aura. Allen sighed and calmed his uncle down.

'Uncle, please… just calm down, he didn't mean to punch me' but unfortunately, he didn't hear him

"**I'LL KILL THAT LITTLE SHIMP, I'LL KILL HIM, HOW DARE HE PUNCH MY SWEET ADORABLE NEPHEW!**"

TBC

* * *

**Fruitloop**: Hope you guys like it 8D I wonder what will happen if Mustang see again Timcanpy! we shall never know! whahaha, so anyways, What will happen to the next chapter? Will Allen ran away? and hide? or become a wondering Earl in central?

I would like to hear your ideas 8D


	4. The man named Neah & the Train accident

**Fruitloop: **A fast upload! YEY! Thank you so much for the reviews, the favs and the follows!

** To DeeRoseWalker: **Yes! A wondering Earl sounds so epic for Allen with the help with Neah! AHAHAHAH *is slapped*

**To Onedaypineapple**: "Inside my head" that's just omg I want to make a little manga about it! It's a wonderful idea! 8D

**To Everyone else: **Thank you so much for reading and staying tune on the fiction! Really appreciated it ; v ; I love you all! *gives cookies to everyone*

On with the chapter! 8D

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 4: The man named Neah Walker and the train accident

* * *

-In the guest room-

The night was cold; the moon shed a faint light on the room. The major helped him walk to bed because of the wound on his abdomen, it doesn't hurt much but it was hard to move with the pain. Once Allen was now sitting on the bed. He thanked the major for assisting him.

But on Allen's mind, he sighed as he restrained his uncle Neah on the back of his mind; he was restraining him for hours.

"**LET GO ALLEN!**" Neah shouted as tick angry marks formed on his head. "**THAT SHIMP NEEDS TO KNOW SOME MANNERS!**"

'Neah… please, just calm down… I don't want you to go, murdering him…'

"**ALLEN DOESN'T IT HURT?! YOU CAN'T JUST SLIP THIS ASIDE!**"

Allen chuckled. 'It hurts a little uncle, but this is just a minor bruise compared to Kanda's sword or Road's sharp candles, this is just a scratch'

"**But Allen…**"

'Just do it for me, uncle… I don't want my new friends to get hurt'

Neah went silent for a little bit and sighed deeply. "**Fine, but if that shrimp hurt you again, I swear to God, I'll punch him to hell and bring him back as an Akuma if I have to!**" Allen sighed.

As Allen rubbed the bruise on his face, the major set him on the bed and pulled the blanket on him. He could see Timcanpy on the side of his pillow, getting ready to get some sleep.

"Excuse Edward Elric's action, Allen" the major said. Allen looked at him and sighed and wore a sad smile on his face. "No its okay, sir" he said to him. "He's just protective around his brother, I understand that, I knew a man who has the same level of over-protectiveness just like Mr. Edward, but not as high tempered as him" he looked away and drown himself on the memories of his past. "A friend of mine… He's name was Komui, he was a lazy man, never doing his papers, he was kind and understanding but if anyone hurts his little sister, he sprang into action" Allen's mind flashed to Komui's silly face with a coffee mug on his hand. "He was very protective around my friend Lenalee, his little sister" Allen laughed a little as both of the Lee siblings flashed on his mind. "He even invented crazy contraptions just to get every boy to stay away from his sister"

The major put his hand on his shoulder. He was still worried about Allen's condition and the bruise; he didn't even question him on what he saw earlier. Allen then put a smile on his face then looked at the Major. "Don't worry about me, sir." He then paused "I'm already used to this" then laughed a little. "My friends especially Kanda, we always have this kind of fights" he closed his eyes "He even drew his sword just to stab me for being annoying and compared to Mr. Edward's punch, this is only a graze" Major then smiled and tucked Allen in just like a child.

"Just rest, Allen Walker, tomorrow we will leave"

Allen blinked. "Leave?" he asked. The major nodded. "We will leave tomorrow to Central"

"What did he mean by 'we'?"

"Major, sir, I need to get going by myself tomorrow. I don't want you and the others to worry about me, I can handle myself like I've always been" he said to the major with a smile. The major didn't remove his hand on his shoulder and looked Allen in the eye and Allen could swear that the pink sparkles on his eyes multiplied

"Allen Walker, I would like to adopt you and be part of the Armstrong family"

Allen's mouth opened in surprise.

"**WHAT THE HELL! NO IN HELL NO! NO!**"

"Major sir…" Allen swallowed the trapped air on his throat. "Thank you for that kind offer bu-" The major then let go of his shoulder then smiled. "I insist Allen Walker" he then went to the side of the door and sat there. "Now, go get some sleep"

Allen mentally sighed and nodded. He closed his eyes.

"**WE WILL LEAVE TONIGHT**" Neah blankly said as he crossed his arms. 'But Neah… I can't even move' he said to him and Neah smirked. "**Who do you think you're talking to, my nephew?**" Neah laughed quietly. "**I have a plan~**" he then pointed to Allen. "**Just rest and regain your strength Allen, the Innocence has eaten the last of your energy, I'll wake you up once we get a place to stay on this world**"

Allen sighed. He nodded and closed his eyes on his mind space; a white cape was wrapped around him, embracing him as he fall into a deep slumber.

"**Good night, Allen and sweet dreams**"

In the room, Allen opened his eyes and instead of mercury orbs, it turned into gold ones, a smirked formed on his face.

* * *

Ed was pacing on the living room while his little brother was reading a little notebook. Winry was fast asleep and also Granny Pinako. Ed then put his hand on his chin and remembered what he saw early that day. What the hell did he saw? Was it just an illusion? Was it just a trick in the eye? Did Alphonse saw that thing too and even the major? He then bit his tongue.

"I'm just a clown how knows a little about souls"

He shook his head. He then looked at the door of the room where Allen was sleeping. The Major was in there to guard Allen and keep him safe or escape for that matter. He breathed in and thought of the grin of the 'thing' he saw that hover over Allen earlier. He could clearly remember that thing's grin. It was like that bastard Truth's sadistic grin.

He then remembered something that Allen told him… about his past…

"Then the devil arrived…"

"You can picture this man as the Devil, his grin was wide and it reaches almost on his ears"

Ed's eyes narrowed.

"You can't even feel scared at first because he looked like a clown instead of the Devil"

Could it be Allen…? Is he the Devil that he talked about? But devils and demon doesn't exist! It was nonsense! Unscientific! Then he remembered that evil grin flashed to his mind, mucking him of his presence. 'A wolf wearing sheep's skin' the back of his mind jabbed him.

The room burst open. Ed looked at the door and saw a terrified Major Armstrong. "What wrong major?!"

"Allen Walker is gone!" the major said alarmed. "I fell asleep… I didn't even notice!"

Ed and Al stood and ran over the room where Allen was last seen. The bed was empty and when he looked to the side to see the window; it was wide open. "F*ck!" Ed cursed then he ran towards the door that leads outside and ran. He shouldn't be that far, with Allen's wound like that, he couldn't move fast or ran for that matter. He surveyed the area, left and right then back to the dusty path; he saw something white from a far and a glimpse of gold above. 'That must be Allen!' he thought. He clapped his hands and put them on the ground, lightning sparked towards the figure. This made the figure startled.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" the figure shouted.

"TIM!" he heard him shouted to the golem. Then a human size transmuted bird cage emerged from the ground on where the figure stood, trapping him. The golem was flying around him and judging from the golem's expression, he was panicking.

Ed ran towards the trapped figure and when he got closed. It was a different man, not Allen!

Instead of white hair, the man had dark brown spiky hair and instead of mercury orbs, he saw golden ones. He was wearing a white shirt and a black vest and a black ribbon around his neck. He also wore a long light yellow jacket and when he looked at his hands, he was wearing white gloves. "You're not him!" Ed shouted. Where was Allen?

The man looked at him with piercing golden eyes; he could see the man's face with irritation and anger. Ed blinked a few times and remembered that he saw a white figure earlier, not this guy… He then looked up and saw Timcanpy still flying above circling them and it was still panicking. 'Why is Allen's golem with this guy?' he thought. He then looked at him and observed and thought that maybe this guy was Allen in disguise but there was no scar on his face.

"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?!" the man shouted from the cage, his voice was deep not like Allen's childish voice. "I WAS JUST PASSING THROUGH AND A CAGE SUDDENLY POP OUT OF NO WHERE" The man looked so pissed off. "RELEASE ME AT ONCE MIDGET!" the man shouted at him. A tick formed on Ed's head. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MIDGET THAT ANTS USE A MICROCOPE TO SEE HIM HA?!"

"YOU OF COURSE!"

"WHY YOU!"

"Brother!" he turned around to see his little brother running towards him and far behind him was Major Armstrong.

"YOU WITH THE ARMOR!" the man pointed and shouted. "TELL THIS BROTHER OF YOURS TO RELEASE ME OR I'LL REPORT A COMPLAIN FROM THE STATE!"

Al looked at Ed, confuse. "Who is he brother?" he asked his brother. Ed shrugged and sighed. He clapped his hands and putting it on the ground. A spark of blue lightning surfaced and when the flash disappeared, the cage disappeared and Timcanpy landed on the man's hair.

"Good" the man said then looked at them. "Now, would you mind explaining to me on why the hell you trapped me on a bird cage?" he then crossed his arms. "Well?" he tapped his foot, impatiently. "I'm waiting"

Ed observed the man then his eyebrow twitched, he couldn't place a finger on which one was annoying, this man or Colonel Bastard; looking at the man's golden eyes, he was still waiting for an answer. He then looked above his head and could see Timcanpy flapped its wings. Why is Timcanpy with this man?

"Ed thought that you were someone we know… You see, sir, he kind of ran off and we're worried if he hurt himself" Al explained to the man.

The man then looked at Al then to Ed. "I can see why"

"Hey old man" Ed pointed at Timcanpy on his head. "Why is that thing with you?"

The man blinked then took Timcanpy on his head. "You mean Timcanpy?" he asked and Ed stared. "Well Timcanpy is mine, I created him. Why? Is there a problem?"

Ed's eyes widen. "You're Allen's uncle?!" he shouted to him then the man blinked. "You know Allen?" he asked. Both Ed and Al nodded. "He's the one we are looking for… he ran off and we need to find him, he can't move around with his wounds, sir" Al explained to him.

Allen's uncle laughed and shook his head. "That's Allen alright, doesn't stay put in one place for far too long." Then the major arrived earning the man a slight twitch that the Elric brothers noticed.

He then put his hands on his long yellow light jacket. "The name's Neah Walker. Pleasure to meet you"

"Edward Elric" he introduced himself then pointed to his little brother. "He's my little brother Alphonse Elric" then Neah pointed at the major. "And him?" he asked. "I'm Major Alex Louis Armstrong"

Neah then smiled. "Pleasure to meet you you all!" Ed's suspicion rose. Why is he here? In Resembool of all the places?

Timcanpy then turned to the man, Neah. "Eh? What's wrong Tim?" Ed then looked at the golem. "Did you remember something Tim?" the golem nodded and it opened his mouth. The screen on his mouth showed what happened earlier. It was the scene that Ed punched Allen in the face and cursing at him. This made Neah quiet for a little bit but he saw a twitch of irritation on his face. He then walked towards Ed.

"Wha-"

Ed was punched to the face and it flew him twelve feet away.

"Brother!"

Ed was on the ground, wiping the blood on his lips. "WHAT THE F*UCK DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Neah smirked. "That's for punching my nephew, shrimp" then in a blink of an eye, he was in front of Ed and kneeling to see his face. Ed's eyes widen. 'How did he?!' He thought. He now could see the man's grin and it was the same grin as the 'thing' on Allen. "Good thing that my nephew isn't here but I kept a promise to him" an angry tick was visible on his head but his grin never faded away.

"How does it feel, shrimp?" Neah mucked. "It hurts right?"

"Um, Mr. Walker please, my brother apologized to Allen after he punched him, he didn't mean it" Al said as he put his hand on Neah's shoulder. Neah looked at Al and smiled. "Sorry, I was carried away… I just don't want anyone hurt the only family I have left" he stood up and dusted his jacket. "Well it was a pleasure meeting you all, but I need to get going" Neah then turned around.

"What are you doing here in Resembool?" Ed asked, glaring at him. Neah was stopped on his track but he didn't turn around to face them. "Just passing through~" Neah gleefully said.

"Did you help Allen escape?" Ed said, still on the ground.

Neah turned around. "Yep!~" he smiled. The three people present in the situation stared at him.

Ed slowly stood up. He was holding the bruise on his face. 'Who the hell is this Neah Walker?' he thought.

"Where is Allen Walker?" the major asked Neah. He just paused and slowly sighed deeply. "Just leave my nephew alone, major" he said. "And also" he pointed to Ed and his little brother. "That goes the same to you"

"But Allen's no condition to walk around; he had a serious wound. We care for his health, Mr. Walker!" Al said to Neah.

Neah shook his head. "Allen can take care of himself" he stated. "But he was grateful that you gentlemen nursed him back to health" he turned to them. "And I'm also grateful that you took care of my nephew"

"Where is he now!? Why did he even leave?!" Ed shouted. Neah didn't answer and the three kept quiet.

"If you are wondering why he left" he crossed his arms. "It's because he doesn't want bad luck to rub off to you, his friends" Ed, Al and Major Armstrong dumb fully stared at the awkward man. 'Bad Luck?' they thought in unison.

Neah sighed. "Allen is a magnet of bad luck, it is the reason why he wondered from place to place and it is the reason why he left without telling a word" Neah gave them a small smile. "Just stop looking for him"

"That's bullshit!" Ed shouted pointed. "Bad luck my ass, we create our luck! Not some superstition bad luck bullshit! Just tell us where he ran off too!"

"Brother…" Al said as he looked at him.

Major Armstrong then came closer. "Mr. Walker, please just tell us, we are just worried for his well being" the major said to Neah.

Neah crossed his arms. "You gentlemen don't understand" he stared. "He ran off to protect you idiots" He then took Timcanpy on his hands. "He doesn't want for his new friends end up the same as his old ones" Tim then opened his mouth. "Everywhere he goes, he only brings disaster and tragedy" A screen was showed to the three. The screen was red and slowly it became clear, they saw dead bodies of unknown people to them were shown.

"These were his friends…" Ed's eyes widen, Al and the major gasped. The pictures of dead bodies being flashed to the screen, Ed saw a man on the ground; he was a red head with an eye patch and his arm was missing all blood-spattered. Then a picture of a man with long blue hair whose face was cracked like it was like a vase, then two siblings which had a hole on their abdomen then a picture of people in some kind of lab coat was on the ground and then the last picture showed Allen crying and he seemed to shout to the sky. "They were so precious to him" then Tim closed his mouth. "His friends were his family before I came along… but he left home just for me not to get his bad luck" he then looked at them and put a sad smile on his face.

"So please, don't go look for him, it's his wish"

Neah then turned around and slowly disappeared from their line of vision, leaving them behind.

'What had happen to Allen?' the three wondered. Ed tightened the grip on his knuckles.

"If I see Allen, I'll gonna kick his ass"

"Brother!"

Without a word, Ed turned and goes back to the Rockbell's house. 'I'll kick some sense into him' Ed then looked at the night sky. 'I swear'

* * *

Neah was glad that he was a great actor. Playing clueless uncle was a piece of cake for him. He smiled.

Neah arrived at the train station, it was three in the morning and it was super cold. It was a good thing that he wears a second skin to hide Allen's identity and body just like the Earl but the bad thing was that the cold air that slapped on his skin was making the body colder. If he didn't find anything to warm him soon, he might end up catching a cold or worst a flu. He rubbed both of his gloved fingers to keep him warm for a little bit. His cold breath mist was visible. Timcanpy was on his shoulder, cuddling him; trying his best to keep his master warm.

As if by luck, there was a train approaching that early. He sighed and looked at his mindscape. Allen was sleeping peacefully and Crown Clown was protecting him from his nightmares. He put a smile on his face and looked at the starry sky. 'Central here we go!' he stepped on the train.

Two hours in the train, the chair of the train was hard and it wasn't comfortable to even to sleep in. Neah groaned, his eyebrow twitched, he was having a hard time to even seat to the uncomfortable chair. He rubbed his aching back.

"Hi mister!"

Neah blinked and looked at the little girl with brown hair tied in pigtails and with a basket full of white lilies on her right arm. He smiled to her. "What a lovely young lady" he said. "On what my humble presence can do for the lovely young lady?"

The little girl smiled and blush a little. "Would you like a flower, mister?" she held a flower on her small hand. "It only cost only one cenz"

Neah then smiled and looked at his pocket. 'Wait, I don't have money…' he thought. He then looked at his pocket and saw a glimpse of gold. He then showed the little girl the piece of gold. "I don't have any money with me, but how about this gold?" he smiled. The little girl blinked and looked at the shiny gold. "I'll buy all the flowers on your basket and I'll give you this gold" he pointed at the basket. The girl smiled and put the flowers on a newspaper and she gave it to him. Neah handed over the gold to the girl.

"Thank you so much Mister!"

Neah waved and smiled. "It's a pleasure" he said. "Now run along" The little girl nodded and left him alone. The train ride was silent and Tim flapped his wings to stretch. "Tired Tim?" he asked the golem and he nodded. He then looked at the flowers on his hand. 'I'll just put this on my piano room, it will be lovely on my precious piano' he smiled.

"Hey Tim" the golem looked at his master. "What do you think if I put this on the piano room?" he asked the golem and received a nod from it.

A gunshot was heard.

'What the hell?!' he looked around to look at the source of the gunshot he just heard. He heard a woman screamed and when he looked at the floor. It was the little girl that sold him the flowers, she was bleeding and crying.

"Mama!" the girl shouted, she was terrified and shaking and in pain. "Mama!" she shouted in pain.

The woman from the sit ran towards the girl and hugged her tightly. "Sophie! Sophie, mama's here" he heard the mother said to the little girl.

When he looked at the side, he saw a man with a masked on his face; holding a gun.

"Tell me kid" he held the trigger of the gun. "Where did you get that gold?" the man smirked on the little girl and her mother.

Neah stood up. "Tim, wait here" The golem nodded.

"_Attention! Attention!_" he heard from the speakers of the train.

"May I have your Attention please!~" Neah gripped his knuckles. 'Terrorists?' he cursed under his breath.

"As you may know~ we are hijacking this train!~ you hear that? Now, if you value your lives, just give all your money and your valuable possessions to my men!~ Don't do anything stupid!~ MY men are armed and dangerous. You might end up just like your train conductor here, LIFELESS AND DEAD KYAHAHA" there was a pause from the terrorist's threat message. "Also!~ If you try any funny business! We have an alchemist on board that could blow the train into pieces! That is all!~" then the speakers were turned off.

Neah then looked at the little girl who was clutching her life on her mother. The little girl was losing too much blood. The mother seemed to put a lot pressure on the bullet wound.

"You monster!" the mother shouted to the man.

"Just tell me where you got that gold, little girl" the man with the mask said.

Neah approached the man. "I DID!" he shouted.

The masked man turned to him and looked at him in the eye. "Oh?" he then pointed the gun at him. "Well then! You heard what the boss said!" the man grinned. "Hand it over!"

Neah just stood there and not moving an inch staring at the man with deadly golden eyes. "Did you hear me?" the man shot near Neah's feet. "You don't want to end up just like this dying girl here now, do you?" he grinned. "Judging the way you are dressed, you seemed to be swimming with money" he then pointed his gun to his face. "If you know what's good for you, just hand everything over!" the man smirked.

"You humans are just selfish"

The man looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "And humans like you" the atmosphere around near darkened. Neah's smile turned into a creepy grin that reached over his ears. His eyes where empty white hollows. "Has to die~"

"F*ck!" the man cursed, he rapidly shoot Neah in the face but he gracefully dodge every bullet. In a blink of an eye, Neah's hand was now on the gun's grip then he twisted it. The man screamed in pain. Neah continued twisting the hand until it was ripped from his hand. A loud thud, the man's hand was on the floor. Blood was pouring from where the hand should be.

"Where's that smirk of yours?" Neah grinned and punched the man in the stomach making the man vomit blood. "Oh? Where's that tough attitude?"

"D-D-Demon!"

He punched the man in the face knocking him in the wall. He breath in the air mixed with the smell of blood 'That felt good' he grinned, his inner Noah was bursting with happiness and ecstasy. He then turned his attention on the mother and her child. "Stay away!" the mother shouted. Neah ignored her and put his left hand on the wound.

"I'm going to save your child, ma'am, but I need your cooperation" he said to the mother. The mother was still afraid of him but she slowly nodded. "Her soul is fading away, please, just call out her name, that way she will have the will to stay awake" he said to the mother and she nodded "Sophie!" the mother shouted to her child. "Sophie!"

"Ma-ma?" the girl whispered.

Neah's heart went down the hill. He remembered Mana screaming his name, begging him not to die. He then closed his eyes "Innocence…" he whispered. "Please heal the wound of this child, I beg of you" upon hearing the Noah's request, there was a faint glow from his left hand travelling to the child's body. The bullet wound of the child was closed and she was breathing. The little girl, Sophie, slowly opened her eyes and looked at her mother and she smiled. "Ma-ma?" she said to her mother. "I'm here Sophie" the mother hugged her child and looked at Neah. "Thank you sir" the mother said to him.

"There's no need to thank me ma'am" he then pointed at his chair. "Would you mind going over there? I have something there that will protect you from the terrorists that may come here" he instructed her and she nodded.

"Tim!" the golem flew up. "Stay there and protect them" he pointed to the two he just rescued. The golem nodded.

Neah opened the door to the next room of the train and found civilians ducking over on their chairs, their eyes were filled with fear.

In front of him, there were two masked men who seemed to be holding some kind of pouch and he bet that's where the hostages' money was and they noticed his presence.

"Look" the man with a skull mask pointed at him. "A tough guy just showed up!" he said, mucking him. Then his partner pointed the gun at him. "Boy, if you value your life, give us all of your money" his partner said to him. Neah stepped forward getting close to them. He ignored the guns that pointed at him. "Don't come any closer!" the man pulled the trigger. It missed him. Neah grinned and ran fast towards the two terrorist. He got a grip on one of them and twisted his hand, earning from him a piercing scream that was a very beautiful melody on the Noah's ear. He then turned to the side and used the body as a shield for the incoming bullets. "Shit!" the man with the skull mask cursed and he threw the dead body of his partner at him. Neah then punched the man in the wall making him unconscious.

Neah then looked at one of the passengers. "You over there" he pointed at the man with glasses and black hair. "Tie the unconscious one" he pointed at the body.

He then looked at the other passengers. "Everyone, go to the end of the train, you'll be safe there" he instructed and they nodded, they left the room except for the one with the glasses. He was tying up the unconscious one. "After you are done, sir, please go immediately to the end of the room"

The man then stood up. "You're a tough kid but I won't let you go alone" the man then pulled a gun. "What's your name?" he asked.

"I'll give it later, right now we have to kick their butt"

He nodded and opened the door. The man went inside first and positioned himself on one of the chairs and started to shoot, startling the terrorist. Neah ran towards the terrorist and knocked him unconscious with a hard kick, throwing him to the wall.

"Everyone! Go at the end of the room! Hurry!" everyone nodded and ran. An explosion was heard and from the door. A man with a gun was standing. "So you're the rat!" he pointed the gun and started to shoot. "You're not going to ruin my plans brat!" he shouted. Neah dodged the bullets. He ran and caught his arms. His gun was now on the floor.

Neah smirked. "Not so tough without your crew and gun now, are you?" he whispered to his ear. "I would like to hear you scream when I pull your arms off but…" he chuckled. "I'm not in the mood to kill you, so count this as your lucky day" he then twisted his arms in an odd angle, earning a bloody scream and it echoed through the train. He dropped the man on the floor and dusted himself.

"Good job kid" the man with the glasses said to him. "Now, since the trouble is eliminated, answer my question"

Neah blinked.

"Who are you?"

Neah thought for a second then smiled. "I'm the Earl of Millennium, you can call me Earl"

"Earl ha?" The man grinned. "My name is Maes Hughes"

TBC

* * *

**Fruitloop**: Thanks for reading! I might upload slow by the passing days due to the one, busy in the manga, and two, busy writing my story "Time Zero" It's a manga project of mine 8D. But if you guys have questions don't hesitate to drop me a PM~ Can we be friends too?


	5. Meeting Roy Mustang and Hughes' request

**Fruitloop: **700+ views yey! I'm so happy! Thank you so much for the support everyone! 8D

**To DeeRoseWalker**: A lovable and sadistic Neah is for the win and yey! 8D

**To everyone**: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'm very grateful! I'm trying my best to at least upload a little faster before I will touch my manga project.

Now on with the story!~

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 5: Meeting Roy Mustang and Maes Hughes request

* * *

Day five in the train and Neah was complaining on how uncomfortable it was to wait without doing anything. He wanted to talk to his nephew but Allen was still sleeping and he doesn't want to bother him, he seemed to be having a good dream. He took a long deep breath and heaved a sigh 'this was getting boring' he thought. The day after the train incident, the train passengers thanked him for saving them from the terrorist's attacks and asked him too many questions.

Funny thing about what they questioned him was that, if he was in the military or his identity as an Earl. If he was an Earl, why does he look like a homeless and broke person? If only they knew about the ark. He smiled from that thought.

The last time he entered the ark was from Resembool, to change his usual outfit, he created a gate there so if ever he wanted to visit the place again, he won't ride a stupid train and wait for days just to arrive from that place, which now he realized was a pain in the back and neck and a waste of time. Neah sighed. The ark gate was functioning well but the doors that existed a long time ago that leaded to the doors to the Black Order were gone. It was just a blank black empty space. What did that metal door done to the ark? He needed to find answers. Whatever was that door, it held a dangerous power that even much stronger than Adam. He and Allen should stay the hell away from it.

Back to the train, Neah was sitting on the room were the terrorists were tied up to keep an eye on them. Timcanpy was on his head munching a soft loaf of bread that one of the passengers gave him as a thank you gift, they were even nice enough to give him a small pillow to sit by and a scarf to keep him warm.

Humans were really interesting and kind beings. He looked at the flowers that he bought from the little girl.

"_You were born as a human too little brother_"

"_Even if you're a Noah or Human, you are always be my little brother_"

Neah sighed as he rubbed his head.

He then looked at the terrorists' faces. The man who lost his hand from him was trembling in fear. He raised an eyebrow and gave him his normal grin. He was enjoying this moment, if only Road was here, she would love to see this too. A pang hit into his heart. Before the fight with the Earl, Road was killed by the one and only Apocryphos. 'Cursed that Independent Innocence' he tightened the grip on his hands.

He shook his head to get rid of the thought. He missed Road a lot. Good thing that Kanda killed that monstrosity with the help of Inspector Link. Road's death was avenged. But he surely missed that lovable girl

The door slide opened revealing a happy Maes Hughes and he was holding pictures?

"Yo Earl!" Neah's eyebrows twitched. This man reminded him too much of the stupid rabbit with that happy go lucky attitude of his with no respect what so ever. He crossed his arms and looked at Maes. "What do you want?"

Maes closed the door behind him "Just checking on ya" he said as he shoved the pictures in his pocket. "I thought that ya might need some company here"

He shook his head. "I'm fine, I don't need company, I already have Timcanpy here" he pointed the golem on his head which Tim didn't move a single inch. "And this guys" he pointed to the tied up men.

Maes laughed and sat beside him. "A bit of anti-social now, aren't you?" he then adjust his glasses. Neah glared at him. "I have my reasons to stay away from you people" Neah spat and Maes laughed as if he was telling a joke. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you" he said to him. Neah looked at him; eye brow rose. "Hm?" he hummed. "Where did you learn how to fight?" he asked.

Neah shrugged and break his eye contact. "It's just my instinct" he said. 'Noah instinct for that manner plus Allen's reflexes on fighting Akumas' he mentally laughed. "Where are you from?" Maes asked him. "Judging from your eye color and hair, you seemed to be not from around here" he said looking at him.

"I don't really know" Neah said blankly. "My real home was destroyed years ago and I forgot where it was at" Neah then closed his eyes and remembered when the Earl killed his mother and destroyed their home.

"Oh?" Maes mused. "So you're like a hobo now?" he chuckled and Neah opened his eyes. "Are you here just to insult me Maes?" Neah said and still looking at the terrorists. "Relax, Earl" he said to him. "Just teasing ya" he laughed.

Maes eyed the one who has a missing hand. "You did that to him?" he asked pointing at the man and Neah simply nodded. "He was annoying, playing evil tough guy" Neah said. "He even shot a defenseless little girl" he then put his hands near his lips and covering it from Maes' point of view but it was visible to the other people in the room, namely the terrorists. "He deserve that"

Unknowingly to Maes, Neah was giving his creepy Noah signature grin to the terrorists making them shiver from terror.

"M-Monster!"

"D-D-Demon!"

"STAY AWAY!"

The men shouted. Neah then smiled and mentally hysterically laughed, comically, inside his mind, he was doing an evil laugh with his hands spread wide.

Maes stared at him without a clue on what was happening to him.

The door opened. He and Maes looked at the door and saw a little girl holding a basket full of biscuits. As Neah looked at her face, he realized that it was the little girl that he saved. "Why, if it isn't the lovely Sophie" Neah smiled. "What brings you here?" he asked as he stood and got near to the shy little girl.

Sophie put her hands on the basket and stretched them out to Neah. Her face was red as a tomato and anytime it could burst.

"E-E-Everyone wa-wants to have you t-this Mr. Earl" her eyes were on the ground and shivered with embarrassment. He kneeled to the little girl and put his hand on the basket. "Thank you for bringing this Sophie" then reached out his free hand to Sophie and patted her in the head. The little girl was becoming redder in every second. "What's wrong Sophie?" he asked as he zoomed in closer to the little girl. "Do you have a fever?" he then remembered the gunshot "Did your wound still hurt?"

"N-Nothing M-Mr. Earl!" she said as she turned around and quickly closed the door.

Neah blinked and rubbed the back of his head. What just happened?

"She has a little crush on ya, Earl"

He turned around and saw Maes smirked. His eyebrow twitched as he saw that smile. It was frightening and the same time disturbing.

* * *

Hours later, they arrived at the train station of Central.

"Ah Finally!" Neah stretched and eyed Timcanpy in the basket of biscuits munching its contents. The doors were opened and the passengers rushed to the open doors. After a few minutes, all the people were gone except for the terrorists who were still in the room, he went out the door, leaving the tied up bad guys; he could hear their sigh of relief on the other side of the door. He walked through the long train's hallways and arrived at the exit. He breathed in the fresh air and the wide open space. 'Finally out from the cramp place' he thought. He then looked at the basket that contained the flowers and the remaining biscuits and a stuffed Timcanpy. He smiled. It seemed that Tim had his full.

"Mr. Earl" he turned on his side and saw the mother of the little girl Sophie. "Thank you so much for saving everyone in the train" she said to him and she looked at her daughter who was hiding behind her. "And for saving my daughter" she then looked at him. "We can't thank you enough"

Neah gave her a warm smile. "I'm glad that I could be of help, ma'am" he said. Then something was tugging his jacket and when he looked at it, it was Sophie and she was blushing. "Mr. Earl, g-good l-luck on your way" she said. Neah kneeled down and brushed her head. "I will" he smiled. The girl closed her eyes then hugged him tight making Neah surprised.

"I-I hope we could play sometime Mr. Earl"

Neah was speechless and was very surprised from the sudden hug of the little girl. It reminded him too much of Road hugging him. He closed his eyes.

[_Nee~ Neah!~ Let's go buy candies!_]

[_Don't be such a cry baby, Neah_]

[_Always keep moving forward, isn't that what your brother always told you?_]

Road's voice echoed on his mind. He could feel Road's warm hugs.

Holding back the tears behind his eyes, he returned the hug to the little girl. "Sure, if we meet again, let's play" he gently whispered.

She let go of the hug and quickly goes on her mother's side. "Bye bye Mr. Earl! Till we meet again!" she waved at him and he waved back.

Looking at the two till they disappeared from the crowd, he slowly stood up, smiled and a tear escaped his eye.

He then looked to the basket and grabbed a biscuit to eat. 'Now to find a place to set an ark gate' he thought. Timcanpy flapped his wings and landed on his head and nested there. "Ready to go Tim?" he raised a finger and rubbed the golem's cheek earning him a grateful nod. He then walked through the crowd but was stopped when a hand was put on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going, Earl?"

Neah twitched as he heard a familiar voice behind his back. He turned around and saw the annoying face of Maes smiling back at him. "Maes, What is it this time?" he asked trying his best to add politeness on his tone. Maes just smiled and let go of his shoulder. "Can you stay for a little bit, Earl?" he said and put his hands on his pocket. "I called a friend of mine to pick us up and I want you to meet him and everyone else" he said.

Neah shook his head. "No can do, Maes" he stared. "I have better things to do and places to see"

"Aw come on Earl" Neah's eyebrow twitched. This man was using the annoying tone. "Maes, please do understand that I have important matters to attend too" he then turned around.

"B-but-"

"Goodbye and pleasure meeting you, Maes Hughes" he walked away, slowly disappearing, blending to the crowds; leaving Maes Hughes behind.

He walked through the stairs and saw the men with the blue navy military uniform running towards the train station. 'They must be here to get the terrorists in jail' he thought. 'They are sure fast responders, just like the exorcists' he mused. He then saw a black car that parked on the side and when the man in the car stepped out, a familiar jet black hair and black eyes was seen. Neah looked at him. Where did he saw his face before? What was his name again? He thought and put his finger to his chin, trying to remember. He then felt Timcanpy move. He put his hands together and remembered. 'Oh yeah, this is the guy who Tim bit! What was his name? Hmmm…' He hummed. Then he remembered what Ms. Rockbell told Allen. 'It was Colonel Roy Mustang' he chuckled at the memory.

"YOU!"

Neah blinked. He then looked at the man, Roy, who was ten feet away from him. "Me?" he asked. Roy then pointed at Tim on his head. "Are you the owner of that thing on your head?" he asked to him. Neah crossed his arms and stared at the Colonel. "First of all, sir, this thing in my head is my friend and he's a golem and yes, I'm his owner" Neah answered. "Why? Is there a problem?"

He couldn't resist smiling as he remembered the colonel's expression back in Tim's memories. It was still fresh in his memories. The Colonel walked towards him and stared and glared at him. "Look, I don't know what Timcanpy has done to you sir, I'm sorry, can you just let it go?" Neah acted as innocent bystander and resisted the urge to laugh. Seeing his pissed off face makes him want to burst out of laughing. Roy glared daggers at him. "That thing has infiltrated the military and assaulted a Military Officer" he said to him with venom on his tone.

Neah then smiled. "Well, sir, Tim here doesn't have a sense of direction and he always got himself lost, I don't know how he end up in the military of all places!" he said. "And maybe the military officer wasn't nice to him and got Tim pissed off because if I remember correctly, sir, he doesn't go biting people's fingers off if that person didn't pissed him off just like poking him or pulling his tail in the first place"

He then looked up to see the Colonel's angry face and it was hilarious. 'Neah, get a hold of yourself, try not to laugh' he thought.

"Don't tell me sir that you are that military officer that Timcanpy bit!" he asked worriedly hiding the smirk on his face.

"Tim, say sorry to this young gentleman here" The golem stared at Roy and a few minutes he shook his head as expected, making the colonel even angrier as before. A big angry tick mark was fully seen on Roy's head CLEARLY.

"YO ROY!"

Neah and Roy turned their heads and saw Maes who seemed to be slowly approaching them.

"I see you met, Mr. Earl here" he said while waving his hand to him. Neah turned around and walked away but stopped when a hand was put again on his shoulder. "What's the rush, Earl?" it was Roy this time that stopped him and his once angry expression was replaced into a curious one.

"Don't be such a kill joy, Earl" Maes teased. He then pointed his hand to his friend "By the way, meet Colonel Roy Mustang, he was the friend I'm talking to you about earlier"

Neah looked at Roy in the eyes. "Well it was a pleasure to meet you Colonel Mustang but I have important things to do, so if you don't mind removing your hand on my shoulder, I'll be on my way"

Roy smirked. "So you're the one who saved the people from the terrorist attack, I never pictured the mysterious Earl of Millennium to be…" he paused for a little bit "…short" Neah glared. He knew that smirk and tone adding with the insult. This Roy Mustang won't let him get away that easily. Where did he got the information of his name came from? He then eyed Maes Hughes. "You told him didn't you?"

Maes smiled and put his hands on his pocket. "It's part of my job, Earl"

"Well shit" he cursed. He mentally slapped himself. He should have asked Maes on why he carried a gun in the train; it was really suspicious for a guy to have an armed gun around him. He and his stupidity will lead to his demise one day… Wait… It happened before when he was killed by Adam, he heavily sighed in defeat. "Don't tell me" he spat. "You're part of the military aren't you?" he stared angrily at Maes.

Maes just nodded and grinned.

"You got to be kidding me…" He put his gloved hands on his face.

Tim flapped his wings and landed on Neah's free-of-Roy Mustang-hand-shoulder, showing a whole set of shinny white pointy teeth. "Tim, whatever is in your mind right now, don't bite his hand" Tim looked at him curiously and earned a glare from his master. "I mean it Tim"

He saw Roy and his smirk never faded away from his face, he let go of his shoulder. "Earl, we will like to talk to you back to central and discussed on what you just did in that train" The colonel said and Neah sighed and shrugged. "Fine" he then looked Maes in the eyes. "If I get in jail, I'll kill you without mercy Hughes" he glared

Maes slapped his back and looked at him in the eye. "Don't worry too much, Earl"

"It's the least of my problems…" he grabbed a biscuit in the basket and started to eat it slowly

'It seems that I can't sleep comfortably in the ark tonight' he thought and heavily sighed.

In Colonel Roy Mustang's car…

Neah was bored. The two never discussed anything interesting and Maes kept talking about his three soon to be four year old daughter, Elicia. He just discovered that the pictures on Maes Hughes that he held earlier on the train were the pictures of his daughter and his wife and he always bragged about them to the Colonel. He sighed. Unconsciously, he just hummed Road's song without a care of the world earning a confuse look from the two occupants of the car.

Maes then looked at him. "So, what's your real name, Earl?" he asked.

Neah stopped his humming and stared at him. "I don't like giving my real name to strangers" he said flatly and Maes laughed and said "Don't be like that, Earl, we're friends here" Neah continued to stare. "My real name is strictly for my brother, nephew and his friends only, if you are lucky to even find one" He then thought of the Elric brothers and the Major. 'Well, Shit…' he facepalmed. 'I forgot I gave my real name to those idiots and they are from the military'

He was enjoying his titled name and he just ruined it by himself. 'Way to go, idiot'

"Your brother and nephew?" Maes asked. Neah shrugged and kept quiet from the rest of the car ride.

They arrived at the Central. He looked around and noticed the feeling of being trapped that reminded him too much from the Order. He breathed in and tried to relax himself. 'You can do this, Neah' he told himself. 'Just talk to this guys, leave the place and sleep in the ark for the rest of the day including the day after tomorrow' he sighed.

They exited the car and followed Colonel Roy Mustang inside the military. It has too many twists and turns to his opinion and he forgot to retrace his steps. He hoped that Tim paid attention on the directions. He entered the room which looked like an interrogation room. It was official; he was back on the Order once again but he was glad that there were no CROWS in the room or Noahs for that manner, which he was slightly grateful. The room was small and there were three chairs and a small wooden table and a single light bulb in the center. Timcanpy flew towards the table and landed on it.

Maes then put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll just ask a few questions but know this" he paused and Neah's eye brow twitched. "Tell the truth and only the truth got that?" he said to him.

Neah sighed and put the basket on the table; sat on the chair and took a piece of biscuit to eat. Maes took a chair and when Neah eyed the colonel, he noticed that he switched gloves with a transmutation circle on it. 'I wonder what that transmutation circle mean' the colonel then sat on the vacant chair and crossed his arm.

Neah braced himself. The colonel smirked.

"What's your name?"

"Earl of Millennium"

Roy raised his eyebrow "Real name?"

"Are you deaf, Colonel? I already explained it in the car"

Roy then put his hands on the table. "Earl of Millennium… Is it some kind of title?" Neah nodded. "I defeated the family patriarch and earned his title as the Earl, sadly, it doesn't hold anymore significant meaning to it" Neah said blankly.

Roy then stopped for a moment and asked a different question. "Where are you from?"

Neah then crossed his arms. "No home, forgot where it was" he answered.

"Why are you in Amestris?"

Neah stayed quiet for a little bit and answered. "To find my nephew and a new home for him" Roy then looked at his eyes. "Where is your nephew?" he asked.

"Somewhere in the city… I think" Neah answered, here comes his acting skills. "You think?" Roy asked. Neah grabbed a biscuit. "He's a travelling clown performing acts and tricks; he travels a lot from one place to another, he's really hard to find and I only 'guess' that he is here in the city. He may or may not be in the city, I don't know, he doesn't leave clues which was bothersome" he said and ate a piece.

Hughes time to question him… "How did you cut off the man's hand in the train?" Maes then eyed him. "There were no knives present in that train, the passengers and you" Neah shrugged. "It was pretty easy actually" Both men in the room waited for his answer. "I took his gun and I used it and shot his hand multiple times but I didn't expect for it to fall off like that to be honest with you" he explained. Neah really need to lie on that one, if they knew that he just twisted the hand multiple times and a pull, they will seriously get him to jail for being insane and dangerous.

Roy put his fingers together. Neah eyed his gloves then to the colonel. 'I wonder what he will do with those gloves'

"Where did you learn how to fight?" he heard Roy asked him. Neah looked the colonel in the eye. "Human Instinct" he said and smiled. "I also spar with my nephew's friend who was good and very skilled with a sword" he laughed.

Roy observed his every movement and he then eyed his golem. "What is this golem, you said earlier?" Neah looked at Tim. "He's kind of a pet and a loyal companion" he then grabbed a biscuit and offered it to Tim and his golem gladly took it. "Did you made it?" Roy asked and Neah nodded. "What does it do?" Roy eyed him and Neah shrugged. "Tim can eat, sleep, drink and fly or bite if he is annoyed, nothing special really"

'Except for the fact that Tim could record every moment but I won't tell you' he mentally laughed.

Hughes then looked at him. "Do you have any pictures of your nephew? We might help you to search for him" he asked and Neah shook his head. "Sorry, I don't have any" he then looked at Tim. "My late brother didn't have a camera to begin with so there were no pictures of my nephew"

Both Maes and Roy were quiet making Neah a little bit irritated, annoyed and the same time, pressured. "Is that all you want to know?" he crossed his arms.

"Are you an alchemist?" Maes asked and Neah blinked. "Nope, I'm not an alchemist" he answered.

"What do you do for a living? Roy asked.

"I'm a travelling musician" Neah smiled.

"A musician? Maes mused and Neah nodded. "I play the piano, I can also do the other instruments but I prefer the piano more"

"THAT'S EXCELLENT!" Maes shouted happily and Neah blinked in confusion. "What excellent?" Neah asked.

Maes Hughes grinned and that grin was bad news for him. "You can play in my Elicia's birthday!~"

"EH?!" He exclaimed and stood. "You can't be serious, no, absolutely not"

"That settles then!"

"Are you even listening to me Maes?"

"**Just do it uncle**"

Neah blinked and his expression changed and he sat down. 'Allen, you're awake already?' he thought and closed his eyes.

"**Your shouting woke me up**" Allen said weakly. Neah smiled. 'I'm sorry that I woke you up Allen, just go back to sleep' he looked at his nephew and received a slight nod and Allen went back to sleep.

He breathed in and took a hard sighed. "Fine, I'll do it…" he put his hands on his face. Maes stood up and pat him on the back. "My Elicia will be happy to see and hear you play" He then looked at Neah in the eye. "Since you don't have any place to stay, while you are here in Central; searching for your nephew, you can sleep in my house with my family! They will be glad to have you"

Neah then blinked for a few times and sighed. "That would be great…" he said slowly.

"Yush!" Maes shouted happily.

Neah put his hand on his head. 'Hope they have a comfy bed to sleep by'

'I'm dying of sleep in a soft and comfy bed'

* * *

**Fruitloop**: Thank you so much for reading!~ Hope you liked it~ I love Maes so much 8D he's an awesome guy!


	6. Playing 'Find the Earl's Missing Hat'

**Fruitloop: **This story has 1,000+ views! Thank you so much everyone! *insert crying face here* I don't know how much I love you guys. Thank you so much for the support!

**To DeeRoseWalker:** Yup, there will be a Roy's fire alchemy vs. Neah's Noah powers match but I haven't gone through there yet! Yes Hughes is the man and the most sweetest father I could probably imagine, he is just super awesome!

**To everyone: **Thank you so much for your support! For your reviews, favs and follows. I love you guys!

**Now on with the story!**

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 6: Playing 'Find the Earl's missing hat' with Elicia and her friends

* * *

Neah frowned and glared at Timcanpy who was sleeping in the basket. He was jealous of the sleeping little golem and he wished that he could have a good long peaceful sleep too. But nope, fate really does hate him and kick him in the face hard. Instead of getting away and sleep in the peaceful depth of the ark, he was caught and interrogated by the two military officers, then one of the officer, namely the annoying, family complexed Maes Hughes, who he found out that he was a Lieutenant Colonel of the military. He dragged him to his home and play with his daughter plus play a song to his daughter's birthday which is a week away! Can you believe it? He really wished that he never met Hughes in the train in the first place. Why does the military even recruit that guy? Curse his luck, curse fate, curse everything.

He hasn't slept for four days already and his body demanded sleep and his brain isn't functioning well, he felt so numb that he couldn't even feel the basket on his hand. Curse trains with uncomfortable chairs. Noahs need their beauty sleep too!

In front of him, almost six feet away was the annoying Maes, they were heading to his house. He looked to his left and right to see if there were other people near him. He saw no one.

Neah whispered to his golem that only he and Tim could hear. "Tim" he shook the basket to wake the little golem up. Timcanpy winched and look up to his master and Neah smiled. "Tim, I need you to do me a favor" The golem faced his master and tilt his head. "Open an ark gate and bring this basket over the ark, in my room" he instructed and the golem nodded. "After you are done, find a secured and safe place where we can set an ark gate, don't let anyone see you, okay Tim?" The golem nodded once again and wrapped his tail on the basket and flew away. Neah doesn't want the flowers to be wasted. It was beautiful and his ark room needed it.

Neah then looked at Maes who looked at him curiously. "Why did it fly off?" Maes asked him. He shrugged and put both of his hands on the pocket of his long jacket. "He just wants to eat the biscuits alone" he said to him as an excuse.

"He sure does love to eat, doesn't he?" Maes mused and Neah chuckled. "You have no idea"

Maes then smiled. "Oh yeah! I bet you and Tim will love my wife's apple pie" Neah looked at him. "Apple pie?" he asked and Maes grinned. "They are the best in the city and of Amestris!~" he praised his wife and Neah smiled. Just like Komui praising Lenalee's coffee.

"Can't wait to taste it"

* * *

The Elric brothers and Major Armstrong just arrived in Central. Ed stretched his back and walked to the station with his brother, the major left them for a while but he did say that they have to wait for him and not to go anywhere else. Major Armstrong was still in guard duty after all. Scar was still after the State Alchemists and he and his brother was not safe.

As they sat on the bench of the train station, he heard rumors from left to right and in every corner. There were rumors spreading through the train station that someone who called himself "Earl of Millennium" saved a lot of people from the terrorist train hijacked. Funny thing he heard from the rumors was that this Earl was just an innocent bystander who was brave enough to fight the bad guys. He was not in the military either. He doesn't even use a gun to fight or even alchemy for that manner, just hand to hand combat.

"Earl of Millennium…fancy name. Don't you think, Al?" Ed said to his brother while putting both of his arms on the back of his head.

Al then looked at his brother. "It does hold a good meaning to it" Ed then stared at his little brother. "He's just good at naming himself" Ed said.

Fifteen minutes have passed and there were no sign of Major Armstrong, so instead of waiting, Ed stood up and went by the public phone booth to make a call from his Commanding Officer to inform him and the same time insult him. He could clearly remember the Colonel bastard's face. He couldn't resist the urge to chuckle evilly. He was about to dial the number but stopped when he heard someone talking about the "Mystery Earl" and interesting facts about him.

"He has this golden thing on his head and it looks like a child's toy, I wonder why he kept it on his head"

Ed blinked and looked at the two women who just passed by. 'A golden thing?' he thought then he remembered the golem Timcanpy.

"Maybe it was a gift from his girlfriend?"

"But why on his head?"

"Maybe his girlfriend said to put her gift on his head to remember her by? I don't know!"

"Maybe he's just a child at heart that loves his toy on his head"

"He wears the toy like a hat, there must be a reason!"

Ed and Al listened till the two women disappeared to the crowd "Do you think that it was Allen, brother?" Al asked him. Ed shook his head. "I doubt it Al" he said to his brother. "Timcanpy was with Allen's uncle, remember?" he then put his fingers to the phone and dialed. As he waited for the Colonel to answer the phone, he remembered Neah's creepy grin, it was still fresh in his memories. 'What was he?' he thought. 'Is he even human?'

'Or a human formed of Truth?' Ed gritted his teeth. Thinking that thought made the back of his hair stood up.

"Look brother!"

Ed looked at Al. He was pointing at something in the sky. When he looked closely, he saw the golden golem flying and it was carrying a basket on its tail. As Ed looked a little closer and observed the basket, he saw a glimpse of a flower petal on it.

'Weird'

"Where do you think Timcanpy is heading brother?"

"I don't know…" Ed said as he eyed the golem. The other end of the telephone stopped ringing.

"_Colonel Roy Mustang speaking_" He heard the colonel's voice at the other side of the phone. Ed looked away and turned his attention to the phone. "Hello Colonel Bastard" he grinned.

"_Fullmetal? What a pleasant surprise to hear from you_"

"I just have to inform you that I'm in Central" There was a flash of memory of the bastard's face on his mind. It was Colonel's accident with Timcanpy. "Say Colonel Bastard, does your finger still hurt?"

There was a pause from the other end of the call. "_What are you talking about, Fullmetal?_"

Ed grinned. "Well, I have heard that you were bit by a certain little gold thing with wings, if I'm not mistaken"

"_Where did you heard that?_"

"From a friend of mine, he owns that little thing"

"_You mean the Earl?_" Ed could swear that instead of an angry tone, he was using his curious ones. Ed was not amused. He then paused for a minute. "The Earl? You mean you met him?" he asked.

"_Yes, I met the Earl. He's an interesting man and something is fishy about him_"

"Does this Earl have golden eyes and spiky dark brown hair?"

"_Yes_"

Ed then put his free hand on his chin. 'Why does Neah call himself Earl of Millennium?'

"_Do you know the Earl or not? You seemed to hesitate Fullmetal_"

Ed looked at the golem, which was still visible and he was flying in a slow pace. "I know the guy" he said still eyeing at the golem. "I met him back in Resembool"

"_Do you by any chance know his real name?_" the colonel asked. "_He never told us_" Ed was quiet. 'Why did he hide his real name?' he thought. "_Fullmetal?_"

He put the telephone down then turned back. Surprisingly, the golem was still on sight. 'What was Neah hiding?'

"Let's follow Tim, Al"

* * *

Somewhere inside a building…

Neah sneezed and pulled a handkerchief on his jacket's pocket. 'I wonder who was talking and planning something bad about him'

"Bless you, Earl" Maes told him. "Thanks" Neah said as he put the handkerchief back to his pocket. They arrived at the door and Maes knocked. They waited for two minutes then the door opened and revealed a young beautiful woman and she smiled as she saw Maes and hugged him tightly.

"Welcome Home" she said.

"Daddy Daddy!" Neah blinked as he heard a child behind the door. The door opened wide revealing a little girl in her pink dress, her hair was tied into two ponytails. She ran towards Hughes and hugged him. Maes carried the little girl and hugged her tight and rubbed his face on his daughter. "How's my little Elicia?" Maes smiled and continued on what he was doing.

The little girl laughed. "Stop it daddy, your whiskers are tickling me" she continued to laugh

Neah half opened his eyes and smiled at the little scene before him, it was like he, his brother and his mother once upon a time… "_We will always be with you, little brother_"

"Who is this dear?" Maes' wife asked. Neah snapped out of his thoughts.

Maes put his daughter down and smack Neah in the back. "He's a friend, dear." He then gestured his hand to him. "I met him in the train and he doesn't have a place to stay in Central" Neah put his hand on his chest and bowed. "I'm the Earl of Millennium, ma'am please call me Earl" Maes' wife smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you too Earl, I'm Gracia Hughes" she then gestured inside. "Please come in, I just baked an apple pie this afternoon, help yourself on it." Neah smiled. "Thank you very much, Ms. Gracia" They entered the room and Neah took a sight of the comfy sofa.

'That looked so soft' he thought. Comically, Neah's eyes sparkled and tiny tears were filled his eyes and he could clearly see a spotlight on the sofa, ignoring the others in the background, now he doesn't care where to sleep, be it and the sofa or in the bed or even the floor.

Maes patted him on his shoulder. "Tired?" Neah slowly nodded. "I would die for a good sleep" he said and Maes chuckled. He then pointed at a room. "You can sleep in the guest room over there"

Neah put a smile on his face. "Thanks" he then slowly went to the room and opened it. There was a small single bed on the side and a table with a lamp on it. He slowly went to the bed and closed his eyes, he didn't remove his jacket or his boots, he doesn't care, and all he wanted now was a good long sleep. He fell to the bed without even a second, he was knocked out cold.

* * *

Maes looked at the door and see the Earl who was sleeping on the bed with his jacket on him. 'Guess he was really tired' he thought then went inside the room and get the Earl properly sleep on the bed. He removed the dirty yellow jacket and removed his boots. He put his head on the pillow and tucked him in. When he looked at his face, he just noticed that he was young, maybe around Ed's age.

"Oh dear" he heard his wife said. He turned around and saw Gracia and Elicia. He smiled and put his finger on his lips making a "hush" gesture. They smiled. He stood up and left the sleeping Earl alone then closed the door.

The Hughes family sat on the sofa. His little Elicia was eating a slice of apple pie and Gracia sat next to her daughter.

"How was your trip?" Gracia asked him. "It was fine, dear" Maes said and smiled. "There was a little incident in the train, but it's already taken care off"

"You mean you were in the train the terrorist's hijacked?" she asked him and worried. "Were you hurt?" Maes could see the wariness of his wife. He gave her a small smile. "I'm fine, I was not hurt" he then looked at her. "Earl saved us back in the train" he then chuckled. "He was brave to even fight those terrorist without fear, he reminds me a lot of Ed"

"He saved you Daddy?" Elicia looked at him with curiosity on her eyes.

Maes smiled. "Yes, he saved Daddy"

Elicia then looked at him she has those innocent sparkles on her eyes and a wide smile spread across her lips. "Can he be my big brother, Daddy?" Gracia giggled and put her hand on her daughter's head. "You can ask Mr. Earl that, dear" she said to her daughter. Maes smiled. "I bet he will be very glad"

"Yey!" little Elicia cheered.

Both Maes and his wife smiled at the little girl's excitement.

Tap Tap Tap

There was a tap on the window. When Maes looked at the window, he saw the little golem, Timcanpy was it? It was peeking through it and its tiny hand was making taping sound on the window. He stood up and went to the window and opened it. The golem flew to the room and landed on the ground near him. Gracia and Elicia looked at it with awe.

"The little guy belongs to Earl" Maes said to his family. "He called him, Timcanpy" The golem flapped his wings and landed on his shoulder and snuggled him.

Elicia went next to her father and stared at the golem with curiosity on her eyes with a dash of sparkles. The golem fly and levitate in front of little Elicia. She held her hands towards the golem and it landed on her palm.

"Tim?" she asked.

The golem nodded and swung his tail from side to side. She smiled widely and hugged the thing.

"You're so cute Tim!~"

Elicia then looked at Timcanpy. "Do you want to play with me Tim?" The golem nodded and escaped from her hold and landed on the floor. He began to puff in air. Maes looked at the golem and wondered why he held its breath. Then all of the sudden, the small golem who was a size of a thumb became big as the size of a lamp.

Maes stared and his mouth hang opened. 'What the?' He thought. 'What just happened? How does he do that?!'

His little Elicia's eyes sparkled even more and grabbed a hold of Tim and began to roll him away like a ball.

Roll Roll roll

Little Elicia was enjoying every moment

* * *

Two days has passed, Neah opened his eyes. His golden eyes illuminated through the darkness of the room. "Another dreamless night" he muttered. He slowly sat up from the bed and yawned. He looked up the window and saw the full moon in the sky and took a long beautiful sight of it. 'It sure is nice to have a stroll in the city' he thought. He then eyed the white sleeves of his shirt then the feeling of coldness of his feet and he realized that his jacket and boots were removed. He then looked at the corner and saw a chair with his jacket and boots.

There was something moving on his blankets. He blinked and curiously looked at it. It was big, he poked it and it twitched. He removed the blanket and he saw Timcanpy sleeping and he was big! Again!

He sighed and scratched his head. He really needed to make the golem stop from growing without his permission. He shook the golem off of his sleep. The golem woke up and looked at his master.

"Good evening, Tim"

The golem just looked at his master and swings his tail. "Did you find a good place to set a gate?" he asked Tim and he nodded.

Neah got off the bed and stretched; he then went to the chair and wears his jacket and boots. "Well then Tim" He closed his eyes and hover his hand on the right. On his hand, something was slowly materializing it and on his head, a top hat was formed.

"How about we go have a walk around the city, how's that sound?" he asked the golem on the bed and it nodded again. Neah smiled. He opened the window and exited there. He held his top hat and cane on his hands and gracefully land on the ground like a cat. Tim then landed on his top hat and Neah began to walk.

The cold air of the night touched his skin. The beautiful full moon shined a faint light on the streets. The street lamps flickered and there were less people present in the area.

"Isn't it a wonderful night, Tim?" he asked the golem and he took a deep breath. People who were in the area were curious and looked at him but he just ignored the stares. He heard murmurs and whispers and thanks to Neah's high lightened sense of hearing. He could hear them.

"Is that the Earl?"

"He looked so young"

"What's that thing on his hat?"

"Do you think that he is rich as the Armstrong household?"

He sighed. He loved the attention but this was getting ridiculous. So he started to hum a little song to distract his attention on the whispers, ignoring dagger like stares. As he walked through the streets, he ended up in some kind of park. It was small and there was a water fountain on the middle. He went near and sat on the fountain putting his cane on his side.

He then looked up the starry skies, admiring it. "This world is just like back home, isn't it Tim?" he said addressing it to the golem. This new world was his new home now and also his nephew's. In this world, they could live peacefully without the Order trailing on them. He knew the Order, even if the war ended, he was sure they will use Allen to be experimented by and use him as future weapon. He shrugged off the thought, he will not worry about that.

As the new Earl of Millennium, he promised himself to never bring tragedy to the people and help the humans with all of his power… well, except when that person is a bad guy, he will punish them without mercy. He chuckled at the idea. His inner Noah was rejoicing when he imagined those people and make them suffer in his imagination. He grinned and closed his eyes.

He sniffed the air and noticed something out of place. He opened them. He smelled smoke and when he turned around; he saw a cloud of black smoke in the sky from a far which means big trouble. He picked up his cane and disappeared from where he was.

He was now running and jumping from the rooftop to rooftop; he held his top hat tight so it won't fly away but sadly giving Tim a bumpy ride. He will apologize to the golem later and right now, he needed to see the scene. He then landed near the area and stopped. He saw the fire from a building and when he looked below, he saw the military men who seemed to be putting out the fire. He then eyed on one corner a familiar armor that was near a van and next to him was the unconscious beaten up shrimp.

"I guess we are too late Tim" he whispered to the golem. 'I wonder what happened…' he thought as he looked from the scene. "Tim, go back to the Hughes" he instructed the golem and without hesitation the golem flew and went to the other direction. He then landed on the alley and tried not to make a sound. He emerged from the shadows of the alley and slowly went to the armor.

The armor noticed his presence.

"Mr. Walker…" Al said to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"No need for pleasantries, Alphonse" he said then put his cane down making a tap noise. "Just call me Neah" He then eyed the unconscious shrimp. "What happened to your brother?"

Alphonse looked down. "I don't know… he was unconscious when a boy dropped him off…"

"Boy?" Neah titled his head, curiously. Alphonse nodded.

He heard someone behind him and a gun clicked. Neah turned around and saw a woman who has a gun on her hand and she was wearing the blue navy uniform.

"Put your hands where I can see them" the woman said. Neah sighed and followed, he raised his arms. "Who are you and why are you here?" she asked, demanding an answer.

Neah smiled. "Officer, I didn't do anything wrong here, please lower your gun" he said but she didn't flinched. "I just came by the neighborhood and wondered about the commotion was about and I'm surprise to see young Alphonse here"

"Lieutenant, please put the gun down, his a friend" Alphonse told the woman and she lowered her gun.

"Mr. Walker…" he heard Alphonse behind him. "Hm?" he hummed. "What is it Alphonse?" he turned around.

"Why isn't Timcanpy with you?"

Neah blinked and put his hands down. "I just sent Tim back to where we were staying" Neah could sense uneasiness on the boy. I wonder what had happened.

"Alphonse… what's wrong?" he asked him and slowly went to his side but he didn't answered him. Neah sighed. He could sense the soul in his armor, it was confuse, afraid and lost. It reminded him too much of Allen back in the Order when they labeled him a traitor… Things and situations like this should be dealt only with one's self. He patted the armor. "If you won't answer its okay, just… don't stress yourself okay?" He then eyed the shrimp. "and tell your brother to get well soon" he said to him and left, leaving the two and an unconscious shrimp behind. He goes through the dark corners of the alley and found his way back to the Hughes household and it took him six and a half hours just to find it. He just doesn't have a good way of directions. 'Why does every building of this city looks damn all the same?!' he cursed the architecture flaws of Amestries

The sun was peeking, it's already morning and thankfully he arrived at the building and to his room. Tim was on the bed sleeping and he sat on the chair. 'Finally' he sighed. The door opened revealing the little girl who he remembered to be as Maes' daughter.

The girl smiled. "You're finally awake!" she shouted. He gave her a warm smile. She closed the door and went in front of him and stared. Neah blinked and tilt his head. "Is there something in my face?" he asked. She took a deep breath and Neah braced on what the little girl will say to him.

"Will you be my big brother, Earl?" she said to him and it was loud.

Neah stared at the little girl for a minute. Neah's heart went soft and was shot hard. This little girl was too sweet that reminded too much of Road when she was too innocent. He half closed his eyes and gave her the warmest smile that he could give.

"It would be a pleasure"

The little girl smiled and sparkles were on her eyes. "Yey!" she shouted and hugged his leg. Neah could feel his heart melt. He rubbed her head. "I haven't got your name yet, young lady"

"Elicia!" she shouted happily.

Neah chuckled. "That's a beautiful name and it fits to a very lovely young lady as you"

"Ah Earl, you're already awake" He looked at the door and saw Ms. Gracia and on her hand were two slices of apple pie. Little Elicia ran and hugged her mother.

"Mama, he agreed to be my big brother!" she happily announce to her mother.

Neah smiled and couldn't resist his chuckle

It seemed that Maes was off to work to visit someone really important and Ms. Gracia asked him to take care of Elicia for a while in the park that he just went a couple of hours ago. She was going to get some groceries. He just agreed because he doesn't have anything better to do. Well he could find where the place that Tim felt that it was safe to place an ark gate but that could wait and besides Tim wasn't with him, he left the little golem to rest on the bed.

In the park, Elicia was playing with her friends and Neah was sitting near the fountain. It was a friendly game of tag and Neah couldn't help smile. He never played tag before because it was only his big brother Mana that he could play with and it was boring to play only the two of you.

Elicia tugged his jacket and that made him snapped to reality. He was surrounded by kids and Elicia who was holding his jacket. Neah looked at the little girl.

"What is it, Elicia?" he asked her

Elicia tilted her head. "Do you know any games, Big brother Earl?"

Neah put his hand on his chin, thinking. "How about hide and seek?" he asked her and the kids said that it was boring. He sighed. He doesn't know any games other than that. He then remembered Road's song and it gave him an idea.

"How about we play, "Find the Earl's missing hat?""

Everyone was curious, they went super near him and stared with a spark of curiosity on their eyes. Neah pulled something on his jacket and it was a deck of cards. He pulled a card that seemed to have a picture of a hat on it.

"Okay listen, this is how we play the game" he said and smiling. "There will be two seekers and the hiders" He then put his hands on the air like giving the children a lecture.

"The seekers must close their eyes and sing"

"The song goes like this so listen carefully" he smiled.

The Earl of Millennium is in search of you

Looking for his hat now have you heard the news?

Maybe you stole it from him let's see if it's true…

"Then there are those who hide and one of you will hold this card. If one of the seekers got this card, its game over" Neah said while pointing his finger in the air. "But there is a way that the hiders could win"

"If the seeker found a hider, the seeker must know if the hider holds the hat or not and the seeker only has two chances"

"If those two chances are used, the seeker must shout, I'm beaten, you got that?" he asked the children and everyone nodded. He gave the card to the children and volunteered to be the seeker, he was sure he will win this game. Little did he know that the kids were wiser and trickier.

He played with the kids and it turns out he became the seeker in the game in two solid hours.

TWO SOLID HOURS!

These kids were good he admitted.

He breathed in and gave out a heavy sigh. It was tiring but, it gave him at least his childhood a good kick. It was fun and he really did enjoyed playing with them

Ms. Gracia arrived a few minutes later and they left the park.

Elicia tugged Neah's jacket. "Big brother Earl, can you carry me on your shoulders?"

Neah smiled. "Sure" he then carried little Elicia on his shoulder and when Ms. Gracia looked at them, she gave him a light giggle and smile.

* * *

**Fruitloop:** Thank you for reading! 8D I haven't started to write the next chapter! Please bare with me. Expect an Ed and Neah confrontation on the next chapter! 8D


	7. Neah's Rage

**Fruitloop: **Thank you so much for all the reviews! Guess what? This story just reached 1800+ views! I'm so happy TwT I'm also sorry for not uploading soon, I was sick and can't even lift my hands. I blame the weather

So yeah, thank you so much for the reviews, favs and follows, I love ya all!

On with the story! 8D

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 7: Neah's rage

* * *

Ed was in the public clinic and he was lying in the bed with his brother who was sitting on a little chair on his side, after Winry fixed his automail and the brother's conflict was resolved, he was glad to hear that his brother wasn't angry at him.

But there was something that was bothering him ever since the accident in the fifth laboratory. Why was there a transmutation circle for the Philosopher's stone below the laboratory's basement? Who and what were those people? The tattoo of Ouroboros? A woman that turned her nails into sharp daggers that killed the "Slicer" brothers and that boy with the most ridiculous hairstyle he ever seen on his life and what do they mean "Human Sacrifice" and kept him alive? He shook his head. Too many questions flowed through his mind.

Ed's mind side tracked as he remembered Neah's little golem, Timcanpy. He last saw the golem in the train station and it was carrying a basket with flowers. When he and Al followed the little golem, it went to an abandoned building and when they entered the building, they saw a flash of light coming from one of the rooms. They peek inside and saw Tim with its tail on a basket and a glowing light (?) in front of it.

'What was that light?' he thought

They have noticed that the golem was cautious as he monitored the area from left to right; the brothers carefully hide their presence on the shadows and it was a good thing that it didn't noticed them. When Tim stopped turning its head around the area, it faced the glowing light and slowly approached it and to the brothers' surprise Tim disappeared without a trace.

His head looked at the window and wondered on what was that light? Did it have a connection on Alchemy? Was it a new form of alchemy? He put his finger on his chin and thought of the possible things that the golem just did, he wanted to know everything and the truth. Allen and Neah were hiding something and he needed to find out what, maybe they knew something of power that might help them bring back their old bodies back. They already knew the secrets on how to create a Philosopher's Stone, it was indeed the Devil's Research as Doctor Marcoh stated and must be forgotten. His only chance would be the Walkers.

Allen knew all about souls and Neah had a power that he couldn't explain. He could clearly remember the punch he gave him, it wasn't just an ordinary punch and his speed was inhuman and the creepiest part about him was his smile, it reached over his ears that spread wide. His presence was like facing the Truth itself, well it felt like it.

"What's on your mind brother?" Al asked him and Ed looked at him. "Just thinking about Timcanpy and the Walkers" he then put his hand down and shrugged. "I was wondering on what was the light we just saw…and…"

"They might have a way… you know, to get our bodies back…"

"Brother, I met Mr. Walker again"

Ed looked at his brother with curiosity. "Where?" he asked his brother.

"In the fifth laboratory, I forgot to tell you, he told me you should get well soon" Al then put his hand on the back of his head. "It completely slipped my mind" Al said. 'Fifth Laboratory?' Ed thought. 'Why in the world was he in the fifth laboratory?' his train of thought was cut off when the door to his room opened and revealing Major Armstrong and Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes with papers on hand.

"Yo!" Lt. Colonel Hughes greeted them and waved his hand. "How are ya feeling, Ed? He asked him.

Ed smiled. "I'm fine" he said and slowly sat on the bed. Hughes then put a blank paper on Ed's lap.

"Let's talk about what happened on the laboratory…" Hughes said with his serious tone.

After half an hour of discussing on what happened to the laboratory and also Doctor Marcoh's research about the Philosopher stone, Ed showed a sketch of the boy with the ridiculous hair. "I don't remember anything after being kicked by this guy" he said as he pointed at his drawing.

"Guardians with only souls, precious sacrifices and being kept alive…" Armstrong said as he was in deep thought. Everyone in the room looked at him.

Maes then eyed the research papers of the Doctor. "According to Dr. Marcoh, the stones were used in Ishbal, as well…" Hughes said as he put his fingers on his chin. "I'd like to look into it some more, but the research lab is in ruins now…"

"HMMMMM…." They began to wonder.

"We may be able to discover something if we look through the court-martial chamber" Hughes said as he hold the file containing the sketch of the Ouroboros tattoo.

"I'll go investigate the ones who were participating in the research in the stones under Dr. Marcoh" Armstrong said as he held the file containing the papers of transmutation circle for the Philosopher's stone.

The door opened and when everybody looked at who was at the door, it was the Fuhrer King Bradley. Everyone in the room went on shock, both Lt. Colonel Hughes and Major Armstrong gave the Fuhrer a salute.

"Quiet down, you can be at ease" the Fuhrer said as he signaled the officers to drop their salute.

"Your Excellency, may I ask why you are here?" Hughes asked politely to the Fuhrer.

"Why I'm here?" the Fuhrer said then handed a basket with a melon on it to Ed. "To visit this boy, of course" he then put the basket on Ed's hand. "Are you fond of melon Edward Elric?" He asked to end and let go of the basket. "Ah… Thank you" Ed said. "Wait, something's wrong here!" Ed's shouted.

"Seems like you've been doing a lot of investigating of the military leadership, Major Armstrong"

"Huh? Well… That's…" Armstrong mumbled. "How did you?"

"Don't underestimate my intelligence network" the Fuhrer looked at Major Armstrong then to Ed. "And you, Edward Elric… the Philosopher stone, right?" he said to Ed. Ed couldn't even hardly breath. The tension on the air was high; he could hardly even swallow the air. "Just how much did you find out? Depending on that, I may have to…" there was a pause. The feeling on the air was intensified then after a few seconds the Fuhrer laughed. Everyone in the room stared at the laughing Fuhrer wondering why he just suddenly laughed out of the blue.

"I'm joking! No need to get tense" he said and patted Ed's shoulder. "Ha?" Ed stared. "I too, was aware there have been disquieting activities within the military. I've always wanted to do something about them but…" he then eyed the files that contained about the Philosopher stone. "Oh?" he then took the file and flipped it. "The Philosopher Stone?" he then flipped the papers again. "The people who was involve on the stone… every one of them has been reported missing" he said.

"What?!" everyone in the room was shocked.

"They have been reported missing a few days prior to the destruction of Research Laboratory 5"

Ed couldn't believe it, how did the people that was behind the research just disappeared like that? "The enemy is ahead of us… even with my intelligence network. We still don't know the scale of it all, their objectives, or how close they are of achieving them" The Fuhrer continued.

"So you're saying it's extremely dangerous for us to look into it?" Maes said and the Fuhrer nodded and handed the papers to Major Armstrong.

"Lt. Colonel Hughes, Major Armstrong, Elric brothers, I've decided you all are trustworthy people"

King Bradly looked at them in the eye. "I forbid you to continue investigating this matter or to disclose it to the others!" Everyone in the room was quiet. "You cannot trust anyone in a situation like this, when you cannot even distinguish friend and foe!" The Fuhrer said as he turned to everyone in the room "Regard all the military as you for and proceed carefully, However…" his face turned into a smile

"When the time comes, I will have many tasks for all of you, so be prepared"

"Yes sir!" Everyone except for Ed, salute.

Outside the room, they could hear the Fuhrer's bodyguards shouting

"Where are you your Excellency?!"

"Ah drats! Here comes my annoying subordinates" the Fuhrer walked towards the window and opened it. "I snuck out of my office, after all"

"Farewell!" he exited through the window.

Everyone in the room stared at the Fuhrer as he slowly walked away from the room.

"Hey Ed!" the door opened and it was Winry. "Eh… What are you guys doing?" she asked looking at the four people in the room who was staring at an open window.

Ed looked at her and swallowed the air that was stuck on his throat for a very long time. "Let's just say a storm passed by" he said to her. She closed the door behind her. "I bought the train tickets to Dublith, the train will leave tomorrow"

"Ah thanks" Ed said.

In the window, there was a sound like flapping wings and when they looked at the window, it was Timcanpy.

"Tim?" Ed asked and looked at the golem. 'Did he just grew?!' he thought as he compared on his mind the previous Tim to this lamp size Tim. The golem then flew off to him and Ed pulled out his arms. The golem landed on his palm and he was heavy! Ed mentally complained. "What are you doing here Tim?" he asked the golem. Tim opened its mouth and the holographic screen was seen, it was white and blurry and little faint images were slowly showed.

"Good Morning, Shrimp!"

Ed's ego rose as he heard that nickname. He remembered that voice and it belonged to a certain creepy person.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP?!" Ed shouted

"Brother… I don't think he can hear you… It's only Tim's memories, don't you remember?" Ed sighed

The screen became clearer and on the middle of a white room was none other than Neah Walker and he was grinning. Ed observed the room, it was white and standing behind Neah was a white grand piano with inversed colors of keys the room was filled with mirrors of some kind, but something behind Neah was reflecting on the mirrors that he couldn't figure out what it was. 'Where in the world is he?' he asked.

"Earl?" Lt. Col. Hughes said curiously and stared at the screen. "So that's why he ran off to, I wonder where is that place"

Ed and everyone else looked at the Lieutenant Colonel. "What do you mean?" Major Armstrong asked him. "Well, after he finished playing a special musical piece in my adorable Elicia's birthday party, he just took a walk and never came back!" Hughes crossed his arms. "We thought that something bad might have happened to him, we searched for him but we can't find him, my Gracia and my Precious Elicia were so worried! My Elicia even cried her heart out, in her birthday!" he sighed. "At least I now know he's safe" he then looked at the screen again.

On the screen, Neah sat on a chair and crossed his legs. "How are you, Shrimp? Shock that I send you a message? I say, you should drink your milk if you want to grow taller, it's really high in calcium you know" Neah smirked. "If you don't, you might end up even shorter" he laughed. Ed's anger rose. 'If I see this bastard again I'll going to beat him to a pulp' Ed thought as his eyebrow's twitched in irritation. Comically, he was filled with big red angry tick marks.

Back to the screen, Neah shrugged and smirked. "Well anyways, I just wanted to say, get well soon, don't do anything stupid that will cost your life, idiot. Allen was really worried when he found out that you were all bloody and unconscious the last time I saw you. He always kept bragging me on going to the clinic to check on you! Just to see you safe!" he sighed and shook his head and smiled. "Typical Allen" he smiled and then put his pointing finger in the air. "By the way you missed a great birthday party, it was fun! Even though it's a kid's party without the wine for the grownups which was really a shame, but I can't blame Maes, it's a kid's party after all!" he chuckled. "Oh, and if you see or know by any chance Lt. Colonel Hughes, tell him, Thanks for letting me stay in his house, I'm grateful for his kindness and I'm sorry for leaving too early after the birthday party without going back, he has a very lovely family, Ms. Gracia's apple pies are delicious and little Elicia is the best little sister I ever have but I really needed to keep going, too many important things to do, I already found my nephew, Thank God" he smiled and then turned his attention away from the screen when there was a faint sound of a click. "Uncle, are you in here? We should set up another ark gate t-"

Ed, Al, Winry and Major Armstrong gasped. 'There's no doubt, that was Allen's voice… but what's an ark gate?' Ed thought and his eyes locked at the screen.

"Thank goodness, Allen Walker is safe," The major said as relief washed from his face.

Back to the screen, Neah's expression changed to a panicked one and bolted to the room to the door. "Allen! SHH! I'm recording!" he said while putting his finger on his mouth making a "shh" motion. The white door opened and it revealed the white haired boy they knew in Resembool.

He looked so different, he was wearing a red ribbon with a single black stripe on the collar of his white long sleeved shirt, a black vest, black pants and knee high boots. His hair was tied in a ponytail.

Allen blinked and looked at the screen then back to his Uncle. "It's not like you to record, uncle, don't tell me you want to be a Bookman?" Allen said and smiled as he looked at his uncle with curious eyes.

"Hell no Allen! I'm not going to be a Bookman, that's a boring life and you know it! The stupid rabbit hated it you know" Neah said as he crossed his arms and Allen chuckled. "I'm just sending a message" Neah said as he pointed to the screen. "Who are you going to give that message Uncle?" Neah patted Allen in the shoulder. "I'm just sending this to the Elric Brothers" he smiled "Allen, do you want anything to say to them?"

Allen walked closer to the screen and they could clearly see the soft smile on his smile. "I hope you are doing well, Mr. Edward… I heard from uncle that you were hurt, I was worried. I wanted to visit the clinic but I don't know where it was" he laughed a little and looked at the screen again. "I hope everybody is doing well, I do apologize that I left without you to notice… you know the reason as to what my uncle just told you, I just want you all to be safe"

Neah then interrupted and put a hand on Allen's shoulder. "We're going to leave Central soon, so I guess this is farewell, till we meet again" Neah and Allen's image slowly blurring and they were waving. The screen slowly turned into a soft white blur and Timcanpy closed its mouth.

Lt. Col. Hughes stared awe. "So the little guy could turn big by will and record things too?" he looked at the golem observing. "Tim could be a useful asset in the military"

Tim began to fly and exited through the window.

Ed then looked to the Lt. Colonel ignoring his comment. "You let him stay at your home?" Ed asked him and Hughes smiled. "Yeah, he did save my life back in the train and I kind of make a request from him in my adorable Elicia's birthday, so in exchange, I let him sleep in my house, but he left afterwards…" he said then shrugged.

"He didn't even say goodbye!"

"But why didn't you told us?!" Ed lightly shouted at the Lt. Colonel. "Well Ed, you didn't asked" he said as he put he crossed his arms.

Al then looked at the two. "Isn't his purpose to find Allen in the first place? Where do you think they will go now?" Al said as he looked at Ed. "Allen's a travelling clown, Al…" Ed said as he sighed. "And now Neah's travelling with him, they might just randomly go to places and it will hard to track him down now! Man, I really need to ask something really important to them!"

Lt. Colonel Hughes then looked at Ed. "Wait, you knew his nephew?"

"We knew Allen, we met in Resembool, and we helped him to recover from his injuries" Ed said as he shrugged.

"Are you friends with his nephew?" Hughes asked.

"Yeah" Ed said and he raised his eyebrow. "Why did you asked?"

The Lt. Colonel put his hand on his chin. "We wanted to know who the Earl of Millennium is, we haven't got a clue on where he came from. When I met him in the train, I saw how he dealt with the terrorists and he seemed to be trained to defend himself" The Lt. Colonel's eyes became sharp. "The terrorists in the train were afraid of the Earl, when we interrogated them, they kept calling him a monster, demon and the devil, one even said that the Earl's grin was inhuman, I didn't know what they meant by that but it made us curious…" Ed's mind pictured the wide grin.

"Me and Mustang convince the Earl to come with us, we asked him questions but he dodges it and some answered it but we lack information"

"One of the terrorists we interrogate… his hand was cut off"

Everyone in the room was in disgust. "C-Cut off?" Al's voice shivered, Major Armstrong and Winry were silent but fear was on their eyes. He nodded. "Earl said that he put multiple bullets on the terrorist's hand because the man shot an innocent little girl and he told us he deserved it…" He adjusted his glasses. "When we interrogated the terrorist, you know what he said?" he eyed everyone in the room but they were quiet.

"The Earl didn't put gunshots on his hand…" he paused and breathe in. "He twisted it till the flesh was ripped off"

Everyone in the room gasps and fear was filled in their eyes.

"Why the hell did you even make an offer to him to stay in your house?! Are you even thinking?! Are you insane?!" Ed shouted. "He could have killed you and your family!"

The Lt. Colonel sighed and scratched his head. "The thing about the Earl was…" he paused and looked at them with a small smile. "He has a thing for family and a soft spot for kids, he's very nice and misjudged by other people by his actions. My Gracia likes him and also my adorable Elicia, loves him like he was her own big brother. I saw him in the train and observed him, the way he act when people were near him, he avoided them, but when he looked at the mother and the child who fell victim to the hands of the terrorist, he was worried and couldn't leave his eyes on them, he always checked on the little girl who was shot. Checking if she was okay if it still hurt"

"When I checked on the girl, I was very surprise to see the bullet wound was near at her heart" Everyone's eyes widen.

"I interviewed the mother and she kept quiet on how the Earl cut off the man's hand, but she told me about how the Earl saved her daughter's life" He then put his hand on his pocket. "The mother thought that her child will die because of the fatal wound but the Earl did something unbelievable that even I and Mustang couldn't even believe it" He then eyed Ed. "He just lift his left hand and healed the girl by only touching where the wound was"

'Left hand?' Ed thought as he remembered what happened to Al when Allen touched the armor.

'Could it be… just like Allen's?'

"The Earl is an enigma. I and Mustang wanted to know who and what he is. On how he does it, it could be a great discovery to find his secrets, it could help the country a lot but the only problem was… where do we even start? We don't even know what his real name was. If we do we could start searching from documents and files. He kept his real name a secret and only those who were close to his nephew only knows him and trusted them"

Ed and everyone were silent. "You guys are friends of the Earl's nephew, Am I right? Do you know by any chance his real name?" Hughes asked as he looked at Ed and Al.

Ed shrugged and sighed. "Neah Walker" Ed said and the Lt. Colonel eyes snapped his attention. "That's his name… Neah Walker"

* * *

Allen and Neah were in the ark in the Musician's room. Since they were inside the Ark, they became separate entities. Allen woke up four days ago after Neah's encounter of the youngest of the Elric Brothers and he was worried when he told him the bad news. He sighed.

Neah was holding a map to look for a place to set another ark gate. The more ark gates that will be situated in the world, the better, but this time, Neah will not take the train. Nope, he now hates train rides and he will let his nephew take the rides, besides, Allen was used to things like this since he was an exorcist who travels with trains not on the Ark or Road's dimensional doors.

"How does Briggs sound nephew? It takes only three days to arrive from that place"

Allen patted Timcanpy on the head and he looked at his uncle. "Sure, Briggs sounds a fine to set an ark gate" Allen said to him as he stretched Timcanpy.

Neah folded the map and put it on his pocket. "Well then, Allen, let's buy you winter clothes" Allen blinked and tilt his head. "But uncle, we don't have the money"

Neah smiled. "Then let's make money with your clown antics" he said as he pointed to his nephew.

Allen nodded and smiled back. "That's a good idea uncle, I missed doing my tricks" Neah grinned but it was not a normal grin, no, it was the evil one, the Noah's signature grin. "After we get enough money, we will lure people to play poker with us" Comically, Neah was doing an evil laugh as horns were appearing on his head. "We will be rich and own a mansion in no time! We're unstoppable!"

* * *

Over the day, Allen took over and performed on the street, with his clown antics, Allen missed to perform like this, it was like he was back from his good old days. He smiled. Everyone around the area he was performing was enjoying his tricks and acrobatics. Allen did a very good job. People began to give him tips and as a bonus, because of his antics, someone gave him at least three thousand cenz! He couldn't believe his luck. Everyone seemed to know the one who gave him such a BIG tip. It was a girl, with blond hair and blue eyes and for some reason, her eyes has a dash of pink sparkles.

The he realized that she is one of the "Armstrong" family.

"**So the Armstrong family is a noble one ha?**" Neah said as he looked at the girl.

He gave his finale with a high jump and a triple flip in the air. He landed on the ground and bowed to his audience and gave them a big smile. Everyone clapped and their faces were filled with awe and happiness.

"**Great job Allen!**" Neah rejoiced. 'Thanks uncle' he smiled and gathered his things including the money and exited the scene. Unknown to him, someone was watching him in the darkness of the alley; following him.

Allen arrived at the abandoned building where the Ark was stationed and entered it. He packed his things on his travel bag and removed his make up with a handkerchief. He fixed his hair and tied it in a ponytail. He sighed. Doing all those tricks made Allen tired.

There was a sound of clapping hands behind him and when he looked at his back, he saw none other than Colonel Roy Mustang.

"That was a great performance you did there" the Colonel said.

"**Oh great, the god complexed man is here**" Neah said as he facepalmed. Allen stood up and faced the Colonel. "Thank you sir" he smiled. "What can I do for you?" he asked as he tilted his head.

The Colonel stood there and eyed him. "I'm just curious and I have to ask you just a simple question" Allen smile didn't fade away. "You can ask away sir"

"Are you by any chance the Earl of Millennium's nephew?"

Allen stiffed at that question and closed his eyes. He knew that Neah took the title of the Earl but he was now wondering why the Colonel would know such a fact. 'Uncle, what else did you do while I was sleeping?' he mentally said to his uncle who was crossing his arms. "**A lot of things, I'll tell you back to the ark**"

"Yes, why sir?" Allen played innocent. "Did my uncle done something wrong?" he stepped back a little and ready to run away.

The Colonel smiled. "He didn't do anything life threatening, we were wondering on where he was gone last night. You see, he just disappeared out of nowhere and we are worried about him"

"**Yeah right, Colonel**"

"Oh, is that so?" Allen said as he looked at the floor. "Well sir… I don't know where he is now exactly but if I find him, I'll let him know"

The Colonel then walked towards him. "That would be great… Ah…"

Allen smiled at him. "It's Allen Walker, sir, please call me Allen"

"**He's trying to be friendly now**" Neah said as he observed the Colonel. The Colonel smiled and patted Allen's shoulder. "That would be great Allen"

* * *

After meeting the Colonel face to face, Allen let Neah took over for him to rest.

The night was beautiful as the sky was clear of clouds; the bright moon shine on the city and the stars were spread throughout the sky.

Neah took a long stroll to the city once again before he will leave to Briggs with his nephew. Allen bought himself a winter jacket, a pure white one with fur. It looked like another Crown Clown except without the mask. They also bought a ticket to Briggs.

Timcanpy was on the top of his hat yet again and he was very comfortable on it. People still stared at him no change there. He looked around to find a peaceful place to rest but he ended up lost yet again.

"Where am I?" he looked around for someone to asked to where he was. He felt something bad was going to happen and he didn't like it.

There was a single gunshot.

Neah's eyes widen as he heard it. He ran and looked for the sound. He looked at a phone booth and a boy was holding a gun on his hand. He then looked at the person inside the phone booth and he couldn't believe his eyes.

It was Maes Hughes.

What he was felling now was pure rage. He quickly ran towards the scene and gave the boy a powerful punch that could rip any human off their heads. He send the boy flying, he didn't care on how far or if he killed him.

He dragged Maes off the Phone booth and now on his arms was the unconscious body of his friend Maes Hughes.

Rage filled his thoughts. "F*ck Maes!" Neah shouted at his friend who was near at the brick of death. "Don't you f*cking dare die on me! You have a family to go home too!" he knew that Maes was still alive, but he was slowly dying. "Think about your wife! Think about Elicia!" His hand travelled to the bullet wound. "They will be sad if you are gone! F*ck, DON'T DIE! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!"

He then eyed to his left hand. "Innocence!" he swallowed the air on his throat. "please save my friend, PLEASE" he said as stream of tears fell down on his cheeks, he doesn't want to let anybody die on him again especially his friend, even though he was annoying as hell, he was the first friend he ever meet in this world. "Please Innocence" nothing then there was a faint light of soft green emitted in his hand.

As he looked at his friend, the wound on his stomach was slowly sealed off and only his blood remained. Now his only problem was his soul, it was slowly slipping away.

"I swear to God if you will die now, I'll f*cking turn you into an Akuma if I have too! Do you hear me you stupid family complexed Maes?! I'LL TURN YOU INTO AN AKUMA AND YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT YOU HEAR ME?!"

As if he Maes heard his pled, the soul stopped from slipping and was locked to his body. The soul was holding on and that's a good sign. "That's right Maes! Hold on! Your family is waiting for you to go home! Fight death if you have too! Just don't die! Drag your soul back to your body!" Neah shouted and the faint soul of Maes Hughes was slowly going back to his body. "F*ck… I thought that I will turn you into an Akuma…" he sighed in relief and looked at the comatose friend.

"Tim…"

The golem looked at his master. "Bring Maes back to the Ark, I'll deal with the pest" Tim nodded and puff in some air and a few matter of seconds, Tim was big again and he swallowed Maes whole and took flight.

Neah looked around and looked for the pest who has shot his friend. He expected a dead body, but he felt something on that boy and he didn't like it one bit.

"Come out you little piece of sh*t I know you are there!" Neah shouted and surveyed the area.

Neah's hand glowed in purple static and when he looked at his right, he saw a boy with the weirdest hairstyle he ever seen. His wound of his face was imitating a red static and the once smashed head was now healed.

"MAN, that's one hell of a punch you got there!" The boy said as he rubbed his face. "I haven't seen you from around here, are you new in this city?"

Neah turned to the boy and kept quiet. He could sense something inside the boy, like how an Akuma screaming for help.

"**Uncle…**"

Neah looked at his mindscape to see Allen who was shivering and crying. "**The souls inside him… they need help… They're crying… and hurt**"

'Hush Allen, I'll take care of it'

Neah smirked, this boy wasn't human. "Oh my, even when I blew your head off you still act like a braggy brat?" he said while cracking his knuckles with a single hand.

The boy then looked at him with curious eyes. "I don't know what you just did but it hurt you know" he cracked his head. Neah grinned. "Oh, it hurt?" his Noah smile was slipping through his face. "That's good to know at least" he smiled. "Well, how about I rip your limbs? Blow your intestines and burn every blood in your system" The boy looked a bit shocked. "It would be a pleasure to hear your screams, begging for your worthless life" he smirked. The boy grinned. "Don't be so cocky, human" the boy said to him. "We're immortal, you can't kill us"

Neah's grin never faded away from his face and he began to hysterically laugh. The temperature of the atmosphere became cold and it took a long time to make Neah stop from laughing.

"You? Immortal?" he held his gut, it hurt from all of his laughing. "I've seen immortals and it's not like you" he pointed at him. "You're only a parasite, leeching from the souls inside your body" The boy was alarmed and he eyed him like a predator.

"Boy, I'm not what you say I am" he said and his eyes were slits.

Neah then straighten up and fixed his gloves. "It seems that you won't die that easily, which makes you "nearly" immortal, but you did felt the pain" he then cracked his neck. "I'll make your life much worse than a living hell" The boy looked at him with sharp eyes.

He made the first move, moving towards the boy with inhuman speed. The boy was shocked and readied himself for his attack. A powerful punch in the stomach and the boy flew a very far away distance. Neah ran and quickly charge up the dark matter in his right arm. When the boy rolled on the ground and slammed to the building, Neah released the energy and blew the boy into pieces including the building. It made a dusty battlefield, Neah looked at where the boy was suppose to be on the cloud of dust then he saw a spark of red light, as he got closer, the boy was whole again but this time, the boy turned his head and readied himself, rage was seen on his face. The boy ran towards him quickly and sends him a punch. Neah blinked and dodge his punch but it did hit him a little on the shoulder.

"You got a spunk kid" Neah formed a compressed energy on his arm. "But, that's not good enough" the energy was hit in the boy's abdomen and send him flying again. The boy's body exploded and to Neah expectation of blood, he frowned, there was no blood and that killed his excitement. His Blood Lust and the Noah inside him demanded more.

On the air, he could see a red stone as it glowed and sparked red and it formed again as the boy before. When the boy landed on the ground with a slam, the ground cracked as if he was heavy.

"What giving up already?" Neah walked towards the boy. "Too bad!" he placed a kick on the head and the head was thrown off leaving the body behind. He stumped on the body so many times making tiny holes on each every stomp but it kept on regenerating back to place, the floor cracked as Neah stump his foot down to the body making a hole on the ground. "_HOW DOES IT FEEL HA?!_" his voice echoed through the place. "_HOW DOES IT FEEL THAT YOUR F*CKING LIFE IS SLOWLY TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU?!_" Neah's eyes were filled with complete rage.

STOMP

"_YOU F*CKING MONSTERS DON'T KNOW BECAUSE YOU THINK YOURSELF AS HIGH AND MIGHTY_"

STOMP

"_IMMORTAL MY A** YOU CAN'T EVEN HURT ME_"

STOMP

"_WE'RE YOUR COCKY ATTITUDE?! DON'T TELL ME THAT YOU ARE ONLY BLUFFING"_

He felt something pricked on his arm and when he looked at it, something stabbed him. Neah took a hold of it and snap it and surprisingly it turned into dust. He looked behind his back and on the dusty fog something was coming at him fast. He ran and dodged the sharp objects that were following him. 'Reinforcements?' Neah thought.

He kept dodging the sharp things and when it stopped. Something didn't felt right. He looked around and noticed that the dusty fog was lifting and he could clearly see the ruins of the battlefield and then he realized that no one was there and the boy that he fought was gone.

"F*CK!" he shouted his curse to the air.

TBC

* * *

**Fruitloop**: Thank you for reading! On to the next chapter, Allen will be in Briggs 8D and you know what happens in Briggs!


	8. Roy's worries, Brigg's coldness & LAVI!

**Fruitloop: **Hey guys it's been a while! I haven't been good in the weather lately. Every night I couldn't feel my arms and legs and in the morning my head is light headed. I will update "Family" soon once I get over this sick week! I needed to write this story because it won't let me sleep. My brain just doesn't like me for not thinking too much in the story. I will also make in the next chapter, hopefully an Omake of Allen playing poker with Havoc and Breda.

**To DeeRoseWalker**: Ah yes~ More Armstrong awesomeness! THAT WILL BE EPIC AND I wonder what will be Allen's reaction seeing the Ice Queen of Briggs *insert evil laugh here*

On with the story! 8D

* * *

**The Clown and the Exorcists**

Chapter 8: Roy's worries, Brigg's harsh coldness and LAVI?!

* * *

Allen was walking on the street sidewalk of Central and bringing a bag of apples and a bag with dextrose on his left hand. Timcanpy was on his shoulder eating a biscuit. He shrunk himself again to avoid of getting too much attention but the only problem were people staring at him.

As he looked around, people were curious and he could hear them murmured about something, he couldn't hear what it was and as looked at some passing passerby's they were looking at him. He doesn't know if they were staring at his white hair, his pure white appearance, his scar or Timcanpy or the four all at once, he shall never know. He sighed. People and their curiosity.

Due to the incident that happened last night, Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes almost died from the blood lost that he had obtained to his fatal wound on the stomach but thanks to Crown Clown, he had been healed, but the only problem was he was in a comatose state. It was up to the Lt. Colonel to wake up.

He left his uncle alone in the room in the ark gate where the Lt. Colonel was sleeping and recovering while Allen could do some of a little shopping and a little of walking and adventuring or maybe play Poker in the bar. The train to Briggs wasn't going anywhere till this afternoon so he needed to at least do something in the morning. His uncle Neah needed some time alone and to at least lessen the stress and anger on his mind right now and he didn't want him to be disturbed. Nobody likes an angry Neah.

'Maybe I'll buy an expensive wine for him…" Allen thought as he imagined Neah being drunk. A picture of him hanging with his Master Cross came into view like they were buddies...

'Nope' Allen removed that thought and shook it off.

Neah plus wine was not a good combination

Allen put his free hand on his chin. Now the Neah plus wine thought was removed. The only thing on Allen's mind right now was the boy that has too many souls crying in agony inside his body. It was like the Third Exorcist project yet again. They were neither Akumas nor the Third Exorcists… What was that boy? Was there an army of them? Allen was worried, there might be another war… another bloodshed war… he sighed and shook his head. If there will be another war, he will be glad to volunteer to help.

"Mr. Earl!"

Allen's attention snapped as he heard a little girl's voice from behind him. He turned around to see a little girl who was holding a basket of flowers. "Hey there, what can I do you for?" Allen smiled. The girl just stared at him and pointed her finger at him. "Hey! You're not Mr. Earl!" she shouted and didn't leave her eyes on him. Allen blinked and tilted his head. "If you mean the Earl of Millennium, then no, I'm not him" he said. The little girl eyed Timcanpy on his shoulder and pointed at him. "What are you even doing with Mr. Earl's toy? Why it is on your shoulder, mister?" Allen smiled and rubbed Tim on the head with his free hand. "You mean Tim? Well, he just likes to accompany me"

"Did you steal it from the Earl?"

Allen blinked and looked at the girl questionably. She was really angry. "What makes you say that?" He asked. The girl didn't answer him. He sighed. "I didn't steal Tim from the Earl, stealing is bad and you know it" he said to her and smiled. "Tim here just likes to accompany me, since the Earl's… ehh… sick… I'm doing his groceries" he said and the girl this time tilted her head. "The Earl's sick?!" Allen nodded. "How do I know you're lying?" she ask him with her serious expression. "Well you can ask Tim if you want" he said.

The girl then looked at the golem. "How can I ask a toy? It can't talk" she sarcastically said

Allen smiled and looked at Tim in his shoulder. "Well Tim, did I steal you?" The golem looked at him and shook his head. The girl was shocked to see the toy moved. "But that's impossible! Toys can't move, can they?" she asked him. He kneeled down and patted the girl on her head and scrubbed it. "They can, if you believe in magic with all your heart" he smiled. She looked at him in the eyes. "Magic… like in fairytales on what my mom always tells me at night?" she asked and he nodded.

"But isn't the Earl an alchemist?" she said. "Don't they believe in magic?" she looked at him with curiosity.

He smiled. "Where did you hear that?" he asked the little girl and she looked at him. "Mommy told me that he is an alchemist… and also the people who gave me the basket of cookies for him told me that he's an alchemist…"

He pulled his pointing finger in the air. "The Earl is not an alchemist that I can say"

The girl blinked. "He's not?" she tilted her head.

"Yes, He's just a musician, who believes in magic" he smiled. The girl's eyes sparkled and a little blush on her cheeks. "H-he's a musician?" she asked and he nodded. "What instrument does he play?" she put her fingers together. Allen could imagine that this girl really liked the Earl a lot. "Well, he can play any instrument, but he really loves the piano, he's really good at it" he said. The girl looked at him, but her attention was elsewhere. She shook her head and put her hands behind her.

"Who are you mister if you know all about Mr. Earl?"

"I'm his nephew" he smiled and softly chuckled.

"N-nephew?" she blushed. "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I accuse you of stealing his toy!" she said blushing even more and couldn't help herself, she was redder than a tomato.

"It's alright" Allen smiled at the girl. "My name's Allen, what's yours?"

"S-Sophie" the girl said and shivered a little.

"That's a beautiful name" Allen smiled and commented. "How did you met my uncle, Sophie? You seemed to be over protective when you noticed Tim was with me"

The girl looked away a little. "Well you see… I met Mr. Earl in the train… he saved my life…" Allen smiled. "Typical uncle" he chuckled.

"Say mister Allen, would you like to buy a flower?" she asked him and gave Allen a flower. It's only one cenz. He smiled and put his hand on his pocket to get a cenz. "Yes, I would love one" The girl then gave him another flower.

"Hm?" Allen looked at the second flower that the girl just handed him. "Please… tell the Earl to get well soon" she blushed.

* * *

After meeting little Sophie, he walked through the random streets of Central, Allen didn't know what to do to kill his time, he played a couple of rounds of Poker in a bar, Allen and Neah were running short of money so, there he met three men who were playing a nice game of Poker, he joined in and due to his "expertness" in Poker, he won almost all the rounds and he got easy money on them. Dark Allen strikes again and no one could stop him, there was no Lavi around or Lenalee to stop him. It felt like the good old days

Then he left the bar leaving the three empty pocket men behind and decided to go to the scene where the attempted assassination held place. The wall of the nearby building was completely smashed, the floor was filled with rubbles of stones and a part of the ground was a cracked hole where the 'barely' immortal monster was lying and Neah kept stepping on it with force. Where did it go off to?

Many people were gathered and they, including him only watched through the sidelines. Timcanpy was now on his head watching the scene. The military was keeping the crowd on check. Whispers were heard.

"What do you think happened here?"

"Was the military involved on this?"

Allen looked around and sense to see if there was one of those things that attacked Neah last night, as everyone knows that the suspect murderer always goes back to the scene of the crime to check his own work, and luckily, there was none. He sighed in relief. He then eyed on where the assassination happened. The men who were wearing the blue military uniform were investigating the scene, taking pictures and evidence. He then eyed the Phone booth; he could clearly see the serious and worried face of Colonel Mustang who was looking at the puddle of blood. 'I wonder what he's thinking' Allen thought. He watched him and when the Colonel saw him he was eyed him and it reminded him one of Kanda's death glares. He twitched then he gave him a sad expression and immediately turned his back and walk away from the scene.

'Must get away!' he repeated those words six times like a prayer

"Allen!"

He was out of the crowd and before he could go away and disappear, the Colonel grabbed his hand.

'Aw sh*t' he mentally screamed.

* * *

Colonel Roy Mustang looked through the phone booth and also the blood on it. Hughes went missing last night and the one who was in charge on the phones of the military. She told him that the last time she saw Hughes was on that room and he was injured.

Roy crossed his arm as he looked at the blood trail. Something about it didn't matched. The blood trail just ended up in the phone booth where a puddle of blood and it seems his friend was bleeding out… the question was where was his body?

He observed. There's a trail that looked like the body was being dragged out in the booth but it just ended there and there were footprints too. Even if someone have pulled the body out and carried it, there's has to be droplets of blood on any directions that could give them a lead. But there wasn't any. It's like the body disappeared. What troubled him more was the foot prints, who does it belonged to? It couldn't be one in the military. He eyed the ruins the blood foot prints were everywhere, it seemed that the mystery person was engaged on a battle, strange was that, there was no alchemy involved and it was like a battlefield, pieces of rubbles were littered in the floor and the wall was like a exploded by a bomb and then there was a part of the floor that was like a hole cracked into it where the foot print was stopped. There were no traces of Transmutation leftovers in the field, so this was not a work of an alchemist. There was no use of bombs either because there was no gunpowder residue. It was possible that Scar was involved but the Ishaval was nowhere to be seen in the past weeks in Central.

Roy put his finger on his chin.

"_**Roy, I found something interesting on the Earl's golem**_"

Roy blinked as he remembered the random conversation of Hughes to him.

_Roy was sitting on his office and working on the tower tall of paperworks, it was tiring and he wanted to go out. Sadly he can't or else there will be a bullet on his head if he skipped work. With him was his friend Hughes and he showed him pictures of his little Elicia bubbling about her nonstop._

_He put his hand on his aching head._

"_Ya know Roy, I found something interesting on the Earl's golem"_

_Roy's eyebrow twitched as he heard the "golem" he still couldn't forget the pain that little monster could do. "What is it, Hughes?"_

_Hughes crossed his arms. _"_The golem can grow big at its own will" Roy raised his eyebrow. 'The Earl didn't mention that, the golem could only sleep, eat and fly. If that lil monster could grow big' He imagined a big Timcanpy and him being swallowed and he paled but he shook the feeling off._

"_It just grew as a size of a lamp; my little Elicia played him like it was a big ball it was so cute!_"

Roy snapped to reality, 'What if…?! What if the golem could grow big enough that it could carry a man?!' he thought as his eyes narrowed. 'If that's the case, The Earl could have been here at the time Hughes was shot… he could be the mystery man. That man didn't know how to perform alchemy but he can fight' he snapped. 'He might know were Hughes is!' he thought 'or he might be the murderer, but that's impossible… could he?' he added. He doubted it.

He saw a blur of white among the crowd and when he looked at the mass who were watching, he saw a familiar face and those silver eyes; it was Allen Walker and on his head was the tiny little golem. The last time he saw Allen was in the abandoned building and Allen was wearing his clown makeup back then, now he could clearly see his face and observe the angry red scar on his left side of his face.

Seeing Allen with the golem that might mean he was with the Earl. He approached him and for some reason, Allen immediately turned around. 'He's hiding something' he thought

"Allen!" he shouted to get the attention of the boy.

Allen twitched.

'You're not going anywhere' he thought as he grabbed a hold of Allen's arm.

Roy observed Allen's reaction, he was shocked and tensed and after a few seconds. Allen turned to him showing no emotion but he kept quiet. "Where's the Earl?" he asked Allen with a serious tone on his voice. "Please let go of my arm, Colonel, sir" Allen said with no emotion avoiding the question.

"I'll let go if you will tell me where the Earl is"

The golem flapped its wings and landed on Roy's shoulder and when he looked at it. It was grinning at him. It's going to chew his arm! Roy panicked but never showed it. He had a really good idea that this thing will bite him but good thing that the gloves were on and if the little monster will bite him, he'll use his Flame Alchemy on it

"It's not safe here Colonel" he heard Allen whispered. He let go of his arm. "Let's move to another area…"

"Come, we will talk on my office" Allen nodded and he could see his tensed and stress.

In the office…

Roy locked the door and Allen was sitting on the chair in front of his table, looking around. He moved to his table and sat on his chair.

"Now tell me… where is the Earl?"

Allen shrugged. "He's at his home, sir" Roy raised his brow. "Where is his home?" he asked as he crossed his arms. "It's not on the map" Allen said.

"Don't play games to me Walker, I'm not in the mood"

A sad smiled was formed at the young man's face. He heard Allen faintly whispered words such as 'Inspector and Link' he mentally took note of that, he seemed to be distant like lost in a memory.

"You're worried about Lt. Colonel Hughes, I know… if you want to know, he's alive, sir" Allen said to him as he slowly looking him in the eyes.

Roy's eyes widen as he heard the good news and breathe in to loosen the pressure on his mind. "Where is he now?" he demanded an answer and it seemed that Allen was not willing to answer him back. "At Uncle's home" he take it back, this kid was direct. Not like the certain subordinate of his.

"Colonel Mustang, sir, for the sake of Lt. Colonel's Hughes and his family's safety and your safety, its better if you don't know where he is now and forget about the Earl"

Roy glared. "For their safety and mine? He said as he looked curiously at the boy. "I'm his friend Allen, I'm worried about him and his family" He saw Allen smiled. "I know… but for now, uncle forbids anyone who enters his home without his consent…" Allen then looked him in the eye. "Someone is trying to murder the Lt. Colonel, sir, and if they found out that he is alive, they might target his family and friends and uncle doesn't want that"

"The enemy knows that the Earl has taken the target and they will only focus on him" Allen shrugged.

"At least tell me where he is Allen"

Allen gave him a sad smile. "I told you, Colonel Mustang, sir, it's not on the map…" Roy rubbed his head with his gloved fingers. 'This is going to be hard' he thought

Allen glared at him and went quiet for a couple of minutes. "Colonel, sir, with due respect, the people who tried to murder him is beyond any humans could deal with, the only safe place for the Lt. Colonel is the Earl's home, they will not find him there"

Roy's eyebrows rose. He was curious "Beyond any humans could deal with? What do you me-?"

"You saw the place, Colonel, sir, no human could do such collateral damage. The Earl fought the one who shot Lt. Colonel, Hughes and it was not easy to kill"

His curiosity rose even higher.

What I'm trying to say sir, the enemy is not human" Roy's eyes twitched. "Rather they are monsters hiding in human skin. Uncle fought one of them last night and it didn't die even though he inflicted life threatening damage on the creature" he said and Roy then put his finger on his chin.

"Colonel, sir, I know that you want to see your friend badly, I know how it feels but you need to be patient, the enemy might target you and kill you. They knew the Earl's identity and if they knew that you knew the Earl, they won't hesitate to get you and kill you in plain sight"

"This place where your uncle and Hughes is… is it safe and secured? What makes you say that it won't be discovered by the enemy? What happens then? You and the Earl can't defend yourself, I know that your uncle is skilled in hand to hand combat but it won't be enough to these monsters, if you say that these monsters are dangerous, they could just barge in the Earl's house!"

Allen gave him a sad smile. "I assure you, Colonel, Uncle's home is special, no one can't find it and only I and he knows how to open the doors of it"

"Special?" Roy's stared. "What's so special about it?"

Allen chuckled and smiled. "Do you believe in pocket dimensions Colonel, sir?"

Roy knew about pocket dimensions. It was not scientific and he only read it in fairytale books. "It doesn't exist" he said blankly.

Tim flapped its wings and landed on Allen's shoulder and Allen started to scratch its cheeks. "Oh it exist, Colonel sir" Allen smiled but not looking at him and it made him a little tensed. "As I said earlier, the place where my uncle is cannot be reached by anybody even those monsters" The kid is insane, a screw loose on the head. There's no way that pocket dimensions exist!

"The doors to his home doesn't looked and used as any normal and ordinary door like any house, it is hidden and the location of those doors are a secret"

Roy eyed him. 'This boy is clearly insane as his uncle' he thought There's no proof that pocket dimensions exists, it's just superstition fiction! This boy must be lying.

Allen looked at him in the eyes. "Don't worry, Colonel, I'll ask my uncle if you can visit the Lt. Colonel, for now you have to wait, he's not on his usual cherry mode right now" he smiled

"Well Colonel, sir, I have to go, my uncle might be worried that I took long on my little walk, I'll see you later" and he walked away.

Roy eyed the young man as he closed the door of his office. He has to follow him.

* * *

Allen breathed in and took a long sighed. Talking to the Colonel was hard; it made him uneasy, he sighed. The train to Briggs will depart in two hours and he needed to hurry. He doesn't want to miss the train! He ran towards the abandoned building where the ark gate was situated to drop off his shopping bag to Neah and hopefully he could catch the train.

He surveyed the area if someone have followed him and he entered the building. Unknowingly to him a certain Colonel and a certain Lieutenant was watching him.

Allen then opened a door that leads to the underground basement of the building and he couldn't help but feel paranoid. It felt like he was being watched, like eyes were drilling holes on his back but he couldn't sense the monsters. He arrived at a door and opened it. One quick look at the surroundings and he entered the room. The underground room was wide, well not as wide as the Black Order's underground basement but it was good enough to set the gate here.

On the floor, there were five thick black circles and in the middle of the circle was a number -11- on it.

Standing from the middle of the number, he hummed the melody and a familiar surge of power was filled in his body. The ark gate's white light structure emitted from the ground and it stood up high. He grabbed his shopping bag and go into the light.

When he entered the ark, he closed the door and also the gate, so no one could enter it. "Uncle!" he shouted and it echoed throughout the white city of the ark. 'Maybe he's asleep…' Allen thought.

"Heya Allen!"

He blinked. He looked around to find the source of the foreign voice, it was a familiar voice but it couldn't be. "Allen down here!" Allen followed the voice and then looked down and saw a doll like rabbit, standing in front of him…

The light colored red rabbit doll had a green bandana and an eye patch on his right eye and his visible eye was a small black bead. On the rabbit's neck was a red long scarf and on his side was a little toy hammer. The doll was wearing a black jacket and it seemed like it was a mini version of an exorcist uniform.

The doll looked at him and put its hands on his hips. "Aw, come on Allen, don't you remember who I am?" Allen blinked again and he just realized something.

Rabbit, Eye patch, red scarf, a toy hammer and an exorcist uniform. Allen stared wide eyed.

"LAVI?!"

"In the flesh! Well technically not in flesh, but you know what I mean" Lavi chuckled and put his tiny little hands on the air.

"B-but… how did you… I mean… I saw you died!" Allen said to Lavi. "I died?" he said unbelieving tilting his head. "Wait, you don't remember?" Allen asked.

Lavi scratch the back of his head with the little tiny hands of a rabbit. "To be honest with ya Allen, I don't remember of dying, I just woke up in the library in this body and met Neah with a body!" Lavi's attention rose and looked at him with wonder. "How is that even possible Allen? You and Neah are now separate?" Lavi tilt his head and then jumped a little. "Oh yeah! Neah's in the top floor of the ark, He told me to help you carry your groceries"

"I don't think you can carry these…" Allen looked at the bag of groceries that were two times taller than the doll.

"Awww~ Moyashi-chan is worried about me, I'm touched!" Lavi joked as he chuckled in a small laugh. Out of Annoyance, he dropped the bag of apples into the little doll slowly crashing Lavi.

"Gah get it off, I'm sorry Allen!" comically, Allen was giving Lavi the evil laugh as the bag of groceries crashed the poor rabbit

Allen and Lavi arrived at the top floor of the ark. Lavi and Allen opened the big doors; it was where Allen and Tyki fought the first time with Crown Clown. The room has a long table and has an open view of the whole ark.

In the long table, his uncle Neah was sitting from the far edge and looking what seemed to be a worn out journal. "Uncle, what's the meaning of this? Why is Lavi alive and in this…" he looked at the small little rabbit doll. "form?" Neah looked at him and at Lavi. "Good to know that you already meet the rabbit, Allen, do you like it?" he pointed at the rabbit and smiled. "What do you mean, uncle?"

"Yeah! What do you mean?"

Neah chuckled. "Well, since we are all here. I will explain" He looked at Lavi. "Since I won't be leaving the Ark for a while and doing a little research on the thing we just encountered Allen, I need Timcanpy on my research and I don't want you to be all alone in going to Briggs! So I made a golem and input the rabbit's memories into it, it sure fits him well"

"HEY!" Lavi shouted

Allen gasped. "But… how… how come… he doesn't remember how he died?" Allen asked and Neah pointed at the worn out journal which he was holding earlier. "This here is Lavi's travel log. I used this as the basis of his memories and the last entry of his journal was the time where we face Adam one last time, The Start of the End of the Holy War" he explained to his nephew. Both Allen and Lavi kept quiet.

"Now then" Neah closed the worn out journal and smiled. "You should hurry Allen, the train will leave soon, just leave the groceries on the table"

Allen nodded and Lavi put the groceries on the table and Allen quickly grabbed the rabbit doll and left the ark.

On the train, Lavi was sitting besides Allen and he was holding a newspaper, which they bought along the way including a white cloth that acts like a cloak for Lavi. "So we are in Amestris, year 1914…" Allen nodded and looked at the little rabbit. He was glad at least, that Neah made him, even though he was in this form, his presence was like before like the real Lavi was, it felt like the old times.

Lavi folded the paper and put it on his side. "Man, I didn't believe that I have to be stuck like this" he sighed. "If everyone else we knew saw me like this, I will be a laughing stack!" he scratched his head with irritation and screamed. Allen laughed. Lavi turned to Allen. "This is not funny Allen!" he protested.

"I'm sorry Lavi" he rubbed the tear on his eye from laughing and Lavi crossed his arms. "Hmmp!"

They didn't notice that the other passengers were staring at them.

"You're going to set a gate in Briggs, in North City am I right?" He asked and Allen nodded. "It's the only thing we should do for now. The faster we get into places, the better"

"So you and Neah will set as many ark gates in the world as possible?" Lavi said as he slowly stood up from the sit and stretched. "That's the plan" Allen said and Lavi nodded in understanding.

Three days had passed, Allen told Lavi on what happened on the final war between the exorcists and Adam and the Noahs.

Lavi was depressed to know that everyone they knew were dead especially him. "It's going to be alright… they are in a better place now Lavi" Allen comfort his friend and Lavi just gave him a sad smile.

"Yeah… everyone is free now…" Lavi said with a hint of sad tone on his voice.

They arrived in the North City, the city was covered with snow and kids were playing a snowball fight. Allen stepped on the stairs and Lavi was sitting on his shoulder and shivering. "Man, I haven't been in the snow for years!" he said as he held the cloth on his form closer to him.

Allen patted the shivering rabbit on the head. "If you want, I can wrap you on my scarf" Lavi immediately took a part of the scarf that hanged freely on Allen's neck and he wrapped himself. "Ah, that's better" Lavi said with relief. When Allen arrived at the end of the stairs he looked around to find an abandoned building to set the gate in the city.

"So how many ark gates will you set in the city Allen?" Lavi asked his friend and helped him look. "One in the city and one in the mountain" Allen walked through the streets of North.

They kept on walking till they found an abandoned house and Allen immediately ran inside and set an ark gate there. Allen rubbed his hands. "You okay Allen?" Lavi looked at his friend with concern. "Just a little cold" he said to him with a smile. They were off to the mountains of Briggs.

"So Allen, I've been curious"

Allen looked at his friend. "How did ya end up in this world anyway?" Lavi asked his friend and Allen put his fingers on his chin. "I don't really know Lavi… all we know is that a metal door was involved on manipulating the ark"

"Something that powerful?!" Lavi shouted. Allen nodded.

They have found a ride to the Briggs Mountain. It was a long and bumpy ride but Allen was used to this but Lavi isn't. He always fell on Allen's shoulder and ended up dangling on the scarf. They arrived at the entrance to the mountain.

"Are ya sure you want to go in there, lad?" the old man who gave them a ride asked them with wariness on his tone. "I hear' that there will be a terrible storm that will hit the North"

Allen smiled. "I'm sure, sir"

"Well if you say so lad, good luck"

Allen and Lavi walked through the endless snow near the mountains and as if luck hated them, it was starting to get colder. "Brrr" Lavi shivered. "A-A-All-en, w-we s-shoul-d-d head ba-ck" he said and shivering. Allen held into his friend so that the storm won't send him flying. "N-no, L-l-avi, we are close to t-the mo-untain! W-we shouldn't back out n-now!"

The storm was getting stronger every minute and every step Allen made buried his feet. "A-A-llen! Y-you shoul-d f-find s-s-she-l-ter, you'll d-die f-from the co-cold!

"We're almost t-theerrre!

Allen looked at something closely from the storm. It was a shadow and it's huge! Lavi and Allen shouted and ran from the figure.

"OH SH*T, OH SH*T! IT'S A BEAR! IT'S GOING TO KILL US ALLEN! Lavi shouted in panic and hang on tight on his running friend

SLAM

Allen paled as he saw the big figure landed in front of him with a slam and because of his impact, the snow buried his knees, he couldn't move. He then noticed that the figure lift his right arm and it aimed towards him.

"ALLEN!"

Allen ducked and barely dodged the attack, he looked at the figure and it was slowly showing the image from the storm. He spotted the blue navy uniform of the military and eyed on the metal claw like arm. "Hold still you Drachma scum!" he shouted to Allen.

"PLEASE STOP ATTACKING!" Allen shouted but the man just ignored his plead. He dodged another attack and because of the snow buried on his knees, he had limited movement. His flexibility was the only thing that was saving him now.

ALLEN! DUCK! Lavi shouted and he followed as a claw metal arm almost grabbed a hold of him. "Thanks Lavi!" Allen thanked his friend. The huge man raised his gigantic metal claw and to Allen's realization, the man was going to hammer him.

"I got you know scum!"

As if by slow motion, the claw hand was going to smash him. Allen's heartbeat skipped a beat and he swallowed the air and shouted.

"INNOCENCE ACTIVATE!"

TBC

* * *

**Fruitloop:** Thank you for reading and Thank you so much for the Reviews, the favs and the follows I love you all! On the next chapter, Ice Queen meets the Clown. I might be a lil slower on the updates, hopefully this sick week will pass... Hopefully!

Hope you guys liked it! *insert confetti here*


	9. Trouble in Briggs

**Fruitloop: **YEY! ANOTHER UPDATE! Thank you so much for supporting! I love you all so much! I'm still down on the weather and a little sick, but I'm now okay at least, I need to expose myself from the sun a little more but not too much. I'm enjoying this story so much and I can't sleep without thinking about it. I love you guys so much

**To Kissassdani**: Ah, yes! that's the question, did the Colonel saw Allen opened the gate or not? *insert sinister laugh here* *then get kicked to the moon*

**To DeeRoseWalker**: I would love to see a cat Kanda, Al would seriously bring him back or stuffed him on the armor! That would be super awesome and Kawaii desu! We shall never know if the other DGM characters will have a comeback or not but we shall never know. Let the dead stay dead as Ed always say it. Let's just see 8D

**To MaxAngelDeath**: I'll update Family soon, maybe this week~ *sprinkle sparkles*

**To everyone**: Thank you so much for supporting and I love you guys! *make it rain cookies*

Now on with the story! 8D

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 9: Trouble in Briggs; The Clown meets the Ice Queen

* * *

The snow stormed was getting stronger and the middle of the storm was no other than Allen Walker who was battling a man with a giant metal like claw and on Allen's right hand was his friend Lavi Bookman who was holding to his dear to his life.

A long fur jacket was formed with a silver masked dangling on his neck, Allen's left arm turned into black sharp dagger like claws with a grey like cross on the hand as he blocked the metal claw of the officer using his arm. The impact made a shockwave that blocked the storm temporarily.

"SIR! PLEASE I'M NOT HERE TO FIGHT!" he shouted and begged to the military officer but he ignored it once again then put more power into his metal claw, sinking him into the deep snow. "SIR PLEASE!"

"Shut up you Drachma scum!" the officer said to him with anger and pushed him down into the snow even further.

"It's no use Allen! He won't listen to you!" Lavi shouted at him. Allen hesitated, he can't fight humans, no he can't but he needed to defend himself. He pushed the military officer away. "CLOWN BELT!" he shouted. His white cape ribbons hit and planted themselves to the ground and pulled him out from the snow. Web like patterns of white cloth ribbons were formed as he raised himself and levitated from the air. "SIR PLEASE! JUST LISTEN TO ME!" he shouted. "STOP ATTACKING I'M NOT HERE TO FIGHT!" The military officer charged forward and slammed his metal claw on the cloth making him fall back a little. "This guy doesn't know when to give up" Lavi said as he held tight on his right hand. They were shaking as the officer kept on punching Crown Clown's iron fabric.

"What should we do now Allen?" Lavi asked him while watching the officer trying his best to knock them down to the air. It's like they were in a tree and an angry dog was barking at them and that angry dog has a nasty attitude on him.

"FIRE!"

They heard a woman's booming voice and when Allen turned around, he saw five approaching gigantic bullets towards him. "Aw sh*t!" Lavi cursed and he covered his eyes held tight on his right arm. Allen shot his right hand forward as the silver mask of Crown Clown covered his face. "CLOWN BELT!" he shouted as multiple white ribbons shot through his hand and slice the bullet in half. It made a big explosion, blinding Allen temporarily. "INCOMING!" Lavi shouted. Allen cursed under his breath. He tried to focus, his vision wasn't clear yet as white like dots covered his sight, another batch of the bullets were coming at him and this time it was near him and he doesn't know where to hit. "CLOWN BELT!" he shouted again and randomly spread the white ribbons on the air. He sliced only a few of it and scraped the others. When he saw the blurry color of the metal that was almost three feet away from him, it was too late to dodge. He sliced the bullet in half but it made an exploding impact that thrown Lavi in the air.

"AHHH!"

"LAVI!" Allen shouted as the strong wind of the storm carried away his friend. He reached out using the Innocence but then another batch of bullets came after him. "Sh*t" he cursed. "I don't have time for this!" Allen swung his metal claw in the air. "CROSS GRAVE!" the sky lit up and cross like daggers hit the bullets and almost at the officer down below. "LAVI WHERE ARE YOU?!" he shouted. He turned to his left and to his right, and looked around for his friend. His skin was getting paler in the cold and he couldn't feel his legs anymore. The storm roared, it was making it too hard to see. He landed on the ground and search from there. "LAVI!" His arms were on his face, covering the snow from hitting his head. "ANSWER ME LAVI!" he breath in and catch his breath, the cold was making him hard to breath "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Unknown to him was that the officer didn't give up on the fight and he was approaching at him in fast speed. Off of his guard, Allen swung his claws on the metal claw of the officer and deflected his attack but failed miserably as he was kicked on the chest hard. He was thrown in the air and landed on the snowy ground rolling and hit his back by a nearby a dead tree.

"KAH" Allen silently screamed as the impact cracked a rib bone or two and his back was burning as hell. He put his right hand on the cracked rib, letting the Innocence heal him. He breathed in and out, getting the air on and out of his lungs. He looked around of any signs of the officer. 'Where is he?' he thought as he eyed every corner but it was hopeless. 'Focus, must focus' he thought. 'Don't rely on sight only' he then closed his eyes and listened around him.

He focused and listened, training and sparring with Kanda helped him a lot in how to battle on tough situations just like this one. The enemy was using the environment as his advantage and if he won't think of a better plan soon, he might be in jail or worst case scenario; he will die in the snow.

There was a sound of heavy boots on the snow. He waited… 'THERE' He mentally screamed. He then readied himself for the attack. CLANG

He blocked the hammering blow again. He looked to the officer who was irritated and also amused at the same time. "Not bad, scum" he said to him. Allen twitched his hands as his right arm begun to stiff from the cold. The officer swung his metal claw like a sword and Allen deflected every attack that was thrown to him but the impact of the claw was heavy, making his boots dug through the snow and he cursed, he should have bought winter boots with him. Every repelled on his attack made him to step back and it was the very wrong move he made. There was a small rock behind him, buried under the snow and when he slipped to it. The officer took this opportunity and caught his left arm in the process.

"Got you now" the officer said victoriously.

He was lift in the air and when he looked at the officer, he pulled something on the metal arm. "Say goodbye to your hand" he smiled. Allen observed the metal arm and to where the officer was holding. He saw a lever and when the string was pulled, the claw started to spin its teeth like a chainsaw. Sparks were made just like metal was hit by the friction. It took the officer three minutes to realize that Allen's arm was not cutting and or even leaving a scratch on it. "What the hell?!" he heard him cursed.

Allen knew that it was futile for him to chop off Crown Clown but his senses were almost giving up on him. The coldness of the snow doesn't like the body very much and he isn't even in a good condition on the cold. He should have listened to Lavi.

"FIRE STAMP: HELL FIRE AND ASH!"

Allen saw a bright orange flame on far away and when he looked at the storm, it was heading for the military officer. The officer dodged it but it hit the metal claw, accidentally letting go of him. He fell down on his back on the snow and some rocks. "Ya okay Beansprout?" Allen looked up and saw his friend riding the small handle of his toy hammer. 'Speak of the Devil' he mentally said and smiled.

"LAVI! You're alright!" Allen was relieved. Lavi smiled at him "who do you think I am, Allen?" he then put his hand on his hips as his other hand hold on tight on the handle.

The fire that he made created a Fire Wall, but it won't last long. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" Lavi shouted to him "Follow me Allen! I found a cave just over there" he pointed. Allen nodded. He quickly stood up and ran away as far as possible. He deactivated Crown Clown and followed his friend. Gunshots were fired at them. 'Sh*t' Allen cursed. Lavi's firewall was extinguished quickly than he thought.

"Don't let them get away!" A booming female voice commanded. Allen looked behind him as he saw seven men in a snow jacket with guns on their hands and they were shooting at them. "Hurry up Allen!" Lavi shouted to him. Up ahead, Allen could see shadows of the mountain rocks and the cave. "We're almost there!" his friend shouted.

BANG

"GAH!" A bullet was hit on Allen's shoulder. He held it but continued running. If he kept using Crown Clown to heal himself he might lose consciousness soon. He looked on his shoulder as blood was pouring on the bullet hole on his arm. "KEEP RUNNING ALLEN!"

They arrived at the cave and Lavi landed on the ground and shrink his hammer. "Just set the ark gate here! I'll deal with the soldiers" He saw Lavi positioned into his battle stance, around him were the seal stamps of elements circling him. The soldiers were coming loaded with guns and aimed on them

WOOD STAMP: WIND

Lavi slammed his hammer on the wood stamp seal and a strong wind was created, sending a couple of the soldiers into the air.

Allen went to the deepest part of the cave and founded an area that was big enough for the gate. He breathed in and calmed himself down. The pain on the shoulder was slowly replacing with numbness from the cold, it was a good thing because he didn't felt the pain and the bad news was that, it could develop a frost bite and a horrible case of it if he won't take care of it soon. 'Calm down, calm down' he thought as he breath in deeper and exhale. He closed his eyes and hummed the melody. A familiar serge of power flow through his body and where he was standing, circles were formed and a white light flashed throughout the cave. A few minutes the light died down and on the floor was a number -04- Allen sighed in relief and gripped the wound on his shoulder.

"LAVI! THE ARK GATE IS SET!" Allen shouted and it echoed through the cave. Tiny little footsteps were heard and Lavi was catching his breath. "Th-at's great!" he said panting. "The soldiers are coming and they are not happy"

Running footsteps were heard and Lavi looked back then turned to him. "OPEN IT NOW!" Lavi shouted in panic. He opened the ark gate behind him and when Lavi was almost three feet away from him. He could hear guns reloading. In a matter of a minute, they were now surrounded but for some reason, they just pointed at them, not shoot them.

He eyed the soldiers and they seemed to be waiting for someone.

Single heavy footsteps were echoed through the cave and when he looked at where it belonged too. It was a woman with long blond hair that almost covered the half of her face and serious blue eyes that could kill a human in sight and on her hand was a sword. She eyed him and his friend.

"Who are you and what are you doing in Briggs?" she said as she pointed her sword to them. Allen breathed in and looked at her. "We're just travelers, Ma'am" he said as he ready to back away. The Ark Gate was wide open and he won't let anybody knows it existence yet. She looked at Lavi then to his left arm. "What happened to your weapon?" she eyed him and he could feel her peered and stab at his soul.

Allen swallowed in wariness. "W-what do you mean, Ma'am?" she pointed her sword at him as if she will strike him in any second. "Tell me what you did or else I will order my men to shoot you" she said and judging by her looks, she demanded an answer. "I saw you fight Baccaneer with your black claw and the white jacket that could destroy the bullets by will, where is it?" she said. Allen stared but remained a calm posture, she's like a female version of Kanda, maybe much worse than him! Kanda did have a heart when Allen knew about Alma Karma. He realized that Kanda was just acting like a pain in the butt because of the Order. He indeed have a heart but this lady, he could feel that coldness on her eyes colder than ice. She then eyed the ark behind him then back at him.

"Answer me or this cave will soon be your grave"

"It's none of your business miss" Lavi said earning a death glare on the woman. He gripped his hammer tightly on his tiny little hands. "We're just searching for a shelter on the storm till the bear guy showed up and started attacking us!" he complained. "Are you the Commanding Officer of that guy?"

She eyed Lavi and gave him the most deadly glare. "Fire at the rabbit" The men aimed at Lavi, then all hell gone lose. "CROWN CLOWN!" he shouted as a big mantle of cloth covered him and Lavi protecting them from harm.

"SHE'S INSANE!" Lavi shouted as he shivered from fear.

Firing bullets were echoed in the cave, bullets were flying everywhere, and bullet shells hit the stone ground. Under the protective cocoon of the Innocence, Allen looked at the shivering rabbit. "Lavi" he said getting the attention of his friend. "Once they stop firing, we will get away from this place"

"You have to distract them, I need time to close the gate from the other side once we get in the ark"

"Aye, Allen" Lavi said giving him a mock salute.

"Seize fire!" the woman commanded and everyone stopped shooting. Allen peeked in and could see a clear fog outside. "This is your final warning, answer me or we will take you by force" he heard the woman speak with authority on her voice.

Allen looked at Lavi. "This is our chance" his friend nodded.

"FIRE STAMP: HELL FIRE!"

Lavi slammed his hammer in the ground. The flames circled around him and it slowly formed into a snake and opened its mouth showing the fangs. They heard everyone shouted and started to shoot at the snake.

Allen grabbed Lavi quickly and put him on his arm and entered the light of the ark. He slammed the door of the ark, he could still hear the gunshots. He focused on sealing the gate from the other side and a couple of minutes, it was closed. "Phew, that was close" his friend said as he swipe the imaginary sweat off his head.

"Let us agree on never going to Briggs again"

"Agreed" Allen said to his friend with a long sigh of relief. He then held the bullet wound earlier as the blood continued to leave out of his system. "Man, we should really be careful this time" he saw his friend approaching him and pat his arm. "We're lucky to be alive!"

They were now safe, inside the ark. Allen smiled and laughed lightly.

A buzzing sound was heard and in front of Allen and Lavi was a big screen. The big screen began in a blurry grey till it showed a full image of Neah holding a book about Alchemy and on his other side was a bed with the unconscious Lt. Colonel Hughes. "I see that you guys are already back!" Neah said gleefully but then stopped when he saw him.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU ALLEN?!" Neah shouted.

Neah ran towards the screen and stared at the bullet wound on Allen's shoulder. "Who did this to you?!" he asked and demanded an explanation. "I'LL KILL HIM FOR SHOOTING YOU!" Allen sweatdropped and chuckled a little. Neah and his nephew complex… Lavi approached the screen and Neah's attention was turned to him. "Well?" Neah's eyebrow twitched. "I'm waiting"

Lavi scratched the back of his head. "We… ah… you see…" he then looked at Allen. "We kinda ran into a… military territory and we ah…" he then looked at the screen and Neah's angry face was making the little rabbit nervous. "We kinda… accidentally fought one of them and they are now angry at us" he said trying to explain on what happened.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BOOKMAN JR.?!" Neah shouted at Lavi making him comically thrown to the air and land on the ground with a poof. Neah on the screen was holding the bridge of his nose and his eyebrows were twitching in irritation. "Now the military will list Allen in the wanted list, it's the Order all over again"

Allen walked towards the screen. "It's my fault, uncle… don't blame Lavi on this, we were on a sticky situation and we fought some of the military officers by accident by stepping on their territory"

He saw his uncle sighed heavily and stared at the both of them. "Fine" he crossed his arms. "Now you are on the military's radar, you have to keep your profile down" Neah then stared. "Can you do that?"

Lavi and Allen nodded in understanding.

"Alright then" Neah shrugged. "Come to the upper floors of the Ark, there is some food for you to grab there" Neah then looked at them one last time. "And please! If you will leave the Ark, at least take care of yourselves and don't get to anymore trouble"

"Aye, Neah"

"Yes uncle"

The screen disappeared and Lavi looked at him. "Let's go Allen, let's bandage that wound up" he said to him with concern and he nodded.

After that day, Allen got a small cold and not a serious case of frostbite on his shoulder. Neah and Lavi took care of him and nursed him back to health.

* * *

The ark door leaded to Briggs had a note of "Briggs Cave, Do not Enter" Lavi made it as a reminder of what happened on that day. It has been five days after the incident and at least the Central military force of the city didn't know what happened to the North yet. It was good to know at least.

"Achoo!" Allen sneezed. Today, Lavi and Allen were just walking down the street of Central were Lavi sitting on Allen's shoulder like Timcanpy on his journeys. They were still stressed about the accident in Briggs and hopefully that it won't alarm the military on the accident. HOPEFULLY

Allen sighed and pulled a handkerchief on his pocket and wiped his nose. "Say Allen, we should go to the library" Lavi said as he put his tiny little hands on his chin. Allen looked at him with a curious look. "Why Lavi?" he asked.

Lavi looked at him and pointed and waved an arm in the air "We should research more on the places we will set the ark gate to avoid another accident like that" he then crossed his arm. "We were almost got killed by a crazy woman"

"Yeah…" he hover his hand on the bullet wound. It was still there, he won't use Crown Clown for now because of the Innocence seeping his life source and because of the limited food they have, his energy was low, they needed to save some money. Besides, it's better to conserve energy.

"Alright Lavi, let's go to the library" he smiled and walked through the streets of Central towards the Library.

If they will find it.

TBC

* * *

**Fruitloop: **Hope you guys like it! It's a little shorter than the rest but I'll make the next chapter longer, that I can promise! See ya guys soon!

Update on the following question: You might wonder how Lavi used his Innocence because he died right? Well for starters, His hammer is not innocence period. It will be explained in the next chapter 8D yush!


	10. The Uninvited Guest

**Fruitloop: **OMG only 3 days and I reached 1500+ views on the story I love you guys and I didn't know that it could reach that so many views! So good news! I'm now okay! Well a bit of dizzy and runny nose but I'm okay! So anyways, I have to explain something first! Remember when Lavi uses his hammer? Well, guys it's not Innocence, I repeat, it's not Innocence. It's a Dark Matter that Neah made that looked like it was like Innocence. Just an imitation. That's all

** To lilaila1206: **Well, Allen is a nice guy and Neah has his Noah so pretty much I could only say that Neah can kill a human while Allen cannot. Afterall, he fights for the sake of Akuma and Humanity. As far as I know, Allen was polite and always polite. He never harm anyone. As for Neah... you know what I mean. *slowly scratches the back of her head*

**To Guest: **OMG, that would be awesome and really funny! I'll make an Omake of that! Ice Queen meets The Rabbit. Lavi shouted "my type!" with heart shape eye and wiggles. Damn, it's just too adorable!

**To DeeRoseWalker**: I would love to see a Allen and Hughes interaction too~ Just wait, I still have to think on how Hughes wake up *insert evil laugh here*

**To DoctorWhoXX: **I'm also excited to see the moment when they will face Father~ I'm still thinking on how things will go~

**To kickassdani: **Ah Briggs~ I just love how they treat intruders. Gotta Love Briggs and their forces *insert sparkles*

**To Everyone: **Thank you so much for all of your support on the story! I love you guys! *gives you all cookies*

Now on the story! 8D

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 10: The Uninvited Guest

* * *

In the Central library, Lavi and Allen sat from the far corner where they won't get noticed by anybody if Lavi started to talk to him. It's not like every day you see a walking, talking and reading rabbit doll. They received some glares and stares by people who were just passing by minding their own business and to their point of view; it was like a doll sitting on top of the book pretending to read.

Allen was holding the world's map that they brought along from the ark as they were on their way to the library while Lavi was reading a book that was twice as big as him. He was reading the definition of the places and a little of their history for recording sake after all he was a Bookman. The table was filled with scattered newspapers that Lavi already finished reading and random books on top of each other. He spread the map on the table and began to mark all the places that they have put the ark gates with their corresponding numbers. He put it just like that so that if they wanted to visit the place, they'll just look at the map and go to the number of the door.

"Now I see why the Briggs soldiers attacked us"

Allen looked at his friend with a curious look. "Amestris and Drachma are at war and the only way for Drachma to enter the country was by up North in Briggs which "The Fort of Briggs" was stationed." Lavi said not looking at his friend as he eyed every detail in the pages. "Fort of Briggs?" Allen asked.

Lavi nodded and continued on reading. "Fort Briggs is an Amestrian Military instillation that lies on the border between the countries of Amestris and Drachma. Stretching across a narrow valley between the two countries, the Fort protects Amestris where the mountains cannot"

Allen stood up and curiously looked at the book. He saw a picture of a big wall on the mountains. "Seventeen years ago, there was an incident in Briggs" he said as he pulled a news paper that dated on that very day seventeen years ago. "It was only a case of rubbery of the food supplies on the fort but it made the soldiers there starved almost to death and the Briggs' reputation of being the strongest fortress was tarnished. They might have thought that the one behind the rubbery was a Drachma spy. After that accident, they have tighten their security"

"They might have thought that we were spies that crossed over the mountain and steal their weapons or such" Lavi said as he turned his attention to his friend. Allen sighed and rubbed the temples of his face. This was getting troublesome.

"The past is in the past Allen, it's already done" Lavi said and shrugged. "All we have to hope for is that the news that happened to the North won't reach the military's intel or else we are doomed" Lavi said as he slowly stood up from the book and flip another page to read and sat again.

After hours of Lavi reading and telling him the possible safe places on putting the ark gates. He marked the places in the map with an "X" using a pencil.

'Done' he thought as he then looked at the map to double check. There were five places that were safe enough to place the ark gate, where the military forces were out of reach. Lavi then continued to read the books just to pass the time. As for Allen, he's just doodling on a blank piece of paper. Some were doodles of the Noah; Road and some were the scientists of the Black Order namely Reever's team and little drawings of his friends Lenalee, Kanda and the others.

"Excuse me kid, mind if I join you?"

Allen turned around to see a man with blond spiked hair with a book on hand. He smiled at him and shook his head. "I don't mind sir" the man then took a chair next to him. "The name's Jean Havoc"

"Allen Walker" he said and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Havoc"

"Please call me Jean, Mr. Havoc make me feel old like my old man" he said and grinned. Allen nodded again and looked at the doodles and eyed the map once more then looked to Lavi who was still reading a page. 'He must be memorizing every word in the history of this world' he thought as he looked at his friend. Bookmen in their enhanced and sharp memories.

"Aren't you a bit too old to play with dolls?" Havoc said to him.

Allen's attention snapped and looked at Havoc. He rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, Lavi's not just an ordinary doll, he's my friend" he said and smiled.

"Okay…?" he heard him said with an awkward paused and continued to read what he was reading. There was a small rumble and Allen held his stomach then he eyed the clock of the library. It was almost lunch time and he was getting hungry. Allen sighed heavily. 'Four Apples for breakfast wasn't enough…' he thought.

He then looked at Jean again "Well it's a pleasure again to meet you Jean but we need to go" He said and turned to Lavi. "Come on Lavi, let's go grab something to eat"

Lavi stood up and stretched. "I thought you won't even ask!" he jumped from the book he was sitting and landed on the table with a poof. "Let's get some barbeque!" Lavi declared happily. "I haven't eaten one in years!"

He could clearly see Havoc's shocking face. His mouth was gape opened and his eyes glued on the rabbit.

After staring for almost three minutes… "I-It can talk!" he shouted in realization.

Lavi then waved a hand on the air. "Yes I can talk, what's so wrong about that?" he grinned. Lavi then walked towards Allen and jumped to his shoulder. "By the way, the name's Lavi" he pointed to himself. "It was nice to meet you Havoc"

They waved a goodbye to Jean and walked out the library.

* * *

They walked again through the streets of Central and after half an hour of searching, they found a barbeque restaurant. Inside the restaurant, they found an empty table with a single chair and sat there. Lavi jumped off Allen's shoulder and landed on the table with a poof. He then sat facing his friend.

After a few minutes, they got their order and Lavi started to cook some meat strips on the grill, flipping it. He closed his eyes and sniffed the meaty sizzling aroma "Ah, it's been a while that we eat something with meat" he said as he flipped the meat. "All we have in the ark were apples and apples, and more apples"

Allen chuckled. "You can't blame uncle, Lavi. We don't have enough money to even buy decent food" he said and Lavi flipped again the meat. "If ONLY he can get out of the Ark and work or get a decent job" Lavi said as he poked the meat. "Our only source of money is you and your clown antics"

Allen lightly laughed. "You know that's impossible, Lavi. Uncle can't leave the Ark without me, you know that" Lavi just nodded and looked at his friend. "Maybe I could help to on your acts, Allen" he said. "It might help on giving some extra tips" he smiled.

"That would be great, Lavi" Allen widely smiled. "I needed an extra hand" he said with excitement on his tone.

Lavi then put his free arm on his hips. "Ya know, it's kinda ironic" Lavi said as he looked at him. He made his fork as his pole and tapped it on the table. "The Earl and the Noahs were pretty rich and owned a lot of estate all over the country and now…" Lavi sighed and shrugged. "He, the new Earl of Millennium is broke and doesn't own even a single house except for the ark of coarse" he then flipped the meat strip. Allen chuckled and helped Lavi flipped a big meat strip.

"Adam has his resources Lavi, he gave false promises to the people and promised them power in return" Allen said as he looked at him. "Well, you're right at that one" Lavi said as he get the sizzling meat using his fork and carried it using his two little arms and put it on his plate. "It's a good thing that you and he defeated the previous Earl or else Me, Lenalee, Yuu and the others might have died in vain" He blew the smoke from the cooked meat and tried to bite it. "Man, I missed my body" he said as he slowly chewed at the meat. "Why did he put me on this form anyway?" he pouted. "Does he really hate me that much?"

"Hmm" Allen hummed. "You did disrespect him a lot and you annoyed him to no end" he stated.

"Aw, come on Allen, you know lil ol' me, he's just like Panda-jiji, such a kill joy" Lavi said as he swallowed the small meat on his mouth.

"Well think of it this way Lavi" he said as he took the meat and blow the steam. "Now you can eat one barbeque that looked like it is a feast"

"Very funny Beansprout" Lavi said sarcastically. Allen lightly laughed and bit the barbeque. "I'm not small anymore Lavi, you're the small one here" Allen joked and Lavi smiled. "No way, you're still a beansprout and always will be, nothing will change that fact" Lavi laughed victoriously.

A few minutes of talking and eating with his friend Lavi looked at him. "By the way Allen…" Lavi said while chewing. "Hmm?" Allen hummed. "I've been thinking about the guy in the bed in the Ark, who is he? I've never seen him before"

"Oh" Allen swallowed the meat. "He's uncle's friend, his name is Lt. Colonel Hughes" Allen answered. "A military officer?" he asked him and he nodded. "He's really a funny guy" Allen lightly smiled. "He reminded me of Komui and his sister complex"

"He's the other Komui here?" Lavi said as he took another bite. "Don't tell me he can create crazy contraptions like Komurins!" he saw his friend paled.

Allen chuckled and shook his head. "Just the complex" he smiled. "He really does love his family" he smiled. "Sadly, he got into a serious accident that almost caused his life" Lavi lightly nodded. "Poor guy…" he chewed slowly and stopped. Allen looked at Lavi curiously. "What's wrong Lavi?" he asked.

"Komui… Lenalee… Yuu-chan… Panda-jiji… I missed everyone…" Lavi said as he looked down on the food. "To think that everyone is gone…" Allen looked at his friend and lightly patted his head. "I know Lavi…" he said as he faintly smiled on his down friend. "I missed them too" he tried to comfort his friend.

From out of nowhere, Timcanpy flew in the store and landed on the table with a tap. They both looked at the golem.

"Tim?" Both Allen and Lavi said as they eyed the golem. Tim opened his mouth and a screen appeared. It was blurry and it was adjusted till it became clearer and as usual it was Neah and he was still holding the Alchemy book from before. "I hope that you boys didn't cause anymore problems I assume hm?"

Neah then smiled and pointed at the screen. "Anyways, I need you boys to buy food, water and also some clothings. We are running low here inside the ark"

"He sure does love to give orders now does he?" Lavi said as he stared at the screen. Allen sighed. "We have no choice, it's either you will follow or you will face his anger"

Lavi imagined the grinning Noah with his gloves facing him and stretching him. The worst he have imagined would be Neah stabbing him with a knife just like how Road uses her sharp candles. Comically, in Lavi's visible eye were tears forming as he imagine the worst possible scenarios where Neah was angry.

"NOOOOOO" he screamed in terror as he imagined himself being stabbed a lot of times with a mathing Neah doing his evil laugh. He's new form could regenerate just like Timcanpy but he could still feel pain.

Allen sweatdropped and pat his friend.

* * *

Colonel Roy Mustang stood in front of the barbeque restaurant on his undercover outfit. He was wearing a black hat a long black slack pants, black glasses and a long black jacket and underneath the jacket was a white shirt and a dark green vest with a black tie.

Havoc has informed him that the target was finally found, he informed him that he last spotted him was at the Library and now he headed to a Barbeque Shop. It has been eight days that he searched for the "mysterious" teen namely Allen Walker who mysteriously disappeared into thin air.

Before the boy disappeared, he and Riza have followed him inside the abandoned building where he first met the clown face to face. They were careful on not making any noise that might alert the teen. They successfully followed him till at basement's door of the building where the boy has entered. They stopped at the door and place his ear on the its surface. On the other side, he heard the boy humming behind the door and for some reason they heard the melody that echoed into the building like an echo of a ghost singing.

There was a flash of white light escaped through the hole underneath the door.

Did Allen just perform alchemy?

He then opened the door and peeked. He saw Allen standing in front of a white light structure that he never has seen before and he just walk through it. Once the boy was swallowed by the white light, it slowly phased on the floor and there was no sign of Allen Walker anywhere, what they discovered later on the basement of the building was a painting of circles on the floor with a number 11 on the middle of it. What was the meaning of it?

Roy entered the restaurant and found Allen Walker with a doll rabbit sitting on the top of the table. 'Strange…' Roy thought as he eyed the rabbit. 'Where was that little monster, Timcanpy?' He found a sit near them and sat there. He ordered a few and spied on the boy.

"Ah, it's been a while that we eat something with meat" he heard someone said to Allen. He eyed the table. 'Who said that?' then he saw the rabbit doll move on its own and flipped the meat on the grill.

'A soul infused in that doll?!' Roy mentally shouted as he eyed the rabbit. ''Can he eat too? Just like the golem?' Roy's order was placed on the table and thank the waiter, he then put grilled the meat. 'The Earl and Walker must have known advance alchemy to do such a thing…'

He saw Allen chuckled. "You can't blame uncle. We don't have enough money to even buy a decent food" he saw the doll put its hand on its hips. "If ONLY he can get out of the Ark and work or get a decent job" the doll said as it poked the meat. "Our only source of money is you and your clown antics"

'If only he can get out of the Ark?' Roy thought as he cooked his order. 'What's the Ark and why can't the Earl leave it?'

The boy lightly laughed. "You know that's impossible, Lavi. Uncle can't leave the Ark without me, you know that" the doll nodded.

'He can't leave the Ark without Walker?' Roy was puzzled. What did he mean by that?

Their conversation went a little quiet as he could only hear words. Adam, Noahs, and estate.

"Man, I missed my body" the doll said as it slowly chewed at the meat.

Roy curiosity rose. A soul was infused on the doll and it has the ability to eat. If only Fullmetal knew how the Earl done it. His little brother Alphonse could eat again.

"Why did he put me on this form anyway?" it pouted. "Does he really hate me that much?"

"Hmm" He heard Allen hummed. "You did disrespect him a lot and you annoyed him to no end" he said.

"Aw, come on Allen, you know lil ol' me, he's just like Panda-jiji, a kill joy" It said.

"Well think of it this way Lavi" the boy said as he took the meat and blow the steam. "Now you can eat one barbeque that looked like it is a feast"

Roy metally laughed at that comment. If Fullmetal heard that he could have exploded in anger. He observed the doll and its incoming violent reaction.

"Very funny Beansprout" It said sarcastically.

Roy's eyebrow rose, he was expecting heavy insults and a little rampage on the little doll. All he could see was a calm posture and didn't even flinch on that remark. He was curious, on that nickname 'Beansprout' though. Allen Walker's height he estimate was 5'7 or 5'8

Now he wondered on how tall the rabbit was when he had his human body.

He put his fingers on his chin. Maybe he can use that nickname at his subordinate to annoy him more.

The boy laughed and bit the barbeque. "I'm not small anymore Lavi, you're the small one here" he said. "No way, you're still a beansprout and always will be, nothing will change that fact" the rabbit laughed victoriously.

A few minutes later, Roy ate silently as he listened to the conversation of the two.

"I've been thinking about the guy in the bed in the Ark, who is he? I've never seen him before"

Roy's attention snapped. Could he be talking of Hughes? He swallowed his food and carefully listened on them.

"He's uncle's friend, his name is Lt. Colonel Hughes" Allen answered to the doll.

Roy was worried. What had happened to his friend? It was already two weeks… was he some kind in a coma? He needed to know. If that white light in the basement was the entrance to this Ark or the pocket dimension that Allen talked about on their last meeting. Maybe he could enter it.

"A military officer?" it asked the boy. "He's really a funny guy" Allen said. "He reminded me of Komui and his sister complex"

"He's the other Komui here?" The rabbit asked. "Don't tell me he can create crazy contraptions like Komurins!"

'Komurins?' Roy thought and was curious on what it was. 'This Komui must be an inventor…' he thought as he eyed the rabbit. Their convention became quieter as he noticed that the rabbit got depressed.

"Komui… Lenalee… Yuu-chan… Panda-jiji… I missed everyone…"

"To think that everyone is gone…"

Roy's eyes shot opened. When the rabbit mentioned those names, there was a hint of sadness on it. 'Gone?' he thought. They must be his and Allen's friends and they were gone? Are they dead? Or just missing?

"I missed them too…" he heard Allen as he patted the rabbit on the head.

What had happened to them?

He saw a hint of gold on his eye sight and as he looked at it. He saw the little monster. Roy twitched. He couldn't believe that the monster was here. Why was it here? He looked at the golem as it landed on the table where Allen was and opened its mouth. 'Strange' Roy thought. 'Why would it opened its mouth?' he then saw something like a screen appeared in the air. He saw a blurry white screen till it focus on one image and when he looked at the screen he saw The Earl.

"I hope that you boys didn't cause anymore problems I assume hm?"

Roy was fascinated. The golem could eat, fly, grow big and he could communicate with the screen? That invention would be a great help in the military.

"Anyways, I need you boys to buy food, water and also some clothings. We are running low here inside the Ark"

Roy's eyebrow rose.

"He sure does love to give orders now does he?" he heard the rabbit said as he looked at Allen.

"We have no choice, it's either you will follow or you will face his anger"

Couldn't the Earl hear them?

He eyed the rabbit and for some reason, he became pale and screamed in fear. He then saw the boy patted the rabbit again and tried to comfort him. The golem closed its mouth and looked at the meat on Allen's fork.

"Hungry Tim?" the boy asked the little monster then he gave it the last remaining meat and the golem bit it and chewed it.

Roy exited the restaurant and meet up with Havoc.

* * *

Roy and Havoc meet up on the alley way near the restaurant in their disguises.

"Hey Chief" Havoc greeted as he waved a hand. "Here's the copy of the map on what the Clown had"

They have made Allen Walker's nickname as the Clown so if there was someone who knew him won't go alerting him on what they were doing if they were found out.

Roy nodded and took off his sunglasses. He then took it on Havoc's hand and opened it. On the map, there were "X"s in some places in the East and the West and the other locations were numbered. In the abandoned building location was a number 11. On the North City- 21, Briggs Mountain-04, Resembool- 09

Roy put his finger on his chin. What do the numbers mean and the X's? Could it be the door to the Earl's home? The pocket dimension? He then remembered what they found in the abandoned building. 'There was a number 11 on the floor on the abandoned building' he thought.

"What do you think the numbers mean, Chief?" Havoc said to him as he lit a cigarette. Roy looked at him and folded the map. "I think they are doors, Havoc" Havoc blinked and curiously looked at him. "Doors? To what?" Roy just looked at the map and kept on thinking of a logical explanation.

"To the Earl's home" he answered.

Havoc stared. "You mean the Earl of Millennium?" he exhaled some of the smoke. "The one who saved the people from the terrorist's attack on the train?" Roy nodded. He then whistled. "I heard that he mysteriously disappeared after Lt. Colonel Hughes' went missing…" Havoc said as he crossed his arms. "Is the Earl responsible for it?"

Roy nodded. "So you mean that the numbers represent his houses, chief?" he took the map from Roy. "And these houses might be where he is" He then peeked in the map and looked at the numbers. Roy shook his head. "No, it might be the doors that lead in his house" he said and looked at the map. "You lost me there, chief" Havoc scratched his head.

Roy sighed in frustration. It doesn't make any sense. "I don't know, Havoc" He looked at him. "The Clown has told me that there are special doors that will lead to the Earl's home"

"Special doors, chief?" Havoc asked him.

He pointed at the location of the abandoned building. "When I investigated this place, it has the same number in the floor" Havoc then stared at the map and judging from his face he was still confuse as hell. Roy sighed.

'Was this kind of Advance Alchemy?'

Whatever it was, he will find out soon enough. He then closed his eyes. "Come on Havoc, let's go" Havoc then folded the map and put it on his pocket. "Where Chief?"

"To the Earl's home"

* * *

In the abandoned building, Roy and Havoc waited for the Clown to arrive. They were hiding in the shadows of the basement.

"He's taking too long" Havoc whispered. Roy then pulled out his pocket watch and opened it. It's 3:46 pm. They have waited almost three hours. 'Patience' he thought and waited.

After a few more minutes, they heard footsteps echoing inside the building.

"You should have at least played a few more rounds of Poker, Allen!" A familiar voice echoed. It was the rabbit. "If you kept it up, we can at least survive for a month"

"Lavi, you saw those men, if I kept it up I might end up stripping their dignity"

"Where's the Black Allen I once knew?" The rabbit sounded that he was disappointed and the Clown's chuckle echoed. "I already moved on from the debt that master put on me"

The door to the basement opened and Roy looked at the boy, he was carrying four paper bags and the rabbit was on his shoulder. "Moved on?" the rabbit asked. "You mean you just forget about all the debts just like that?" The Clown shrugged. "I know why you want me to remember those debts, Lavi. It's not going to work" he said. The rabbit laughed. "At least I tried didn't I?"

Roy eyed them. They were slowly approaching to where the mark on the floor was and when they finally stand on it. The rabbit went quiet and the boy closed his eyes.

"What's he doing now chief?" Havoc whispered to him.

"Shh.." Roy put his finger on his lips forming a 'be quiet' gesture

The boy started to hummed. It was the same tone on what he heard from the last time. It echoed through the basement that made him creep out for a little. The floor suddenly lit up and something from the ground was appearing. Slowly but surely, the white structure he seen before was now in front of him. Standing high. He then noticed from the white structure the number -11- that was marked in red.

"Holy…" he heard Havoc muttered behind him.

"You think Neah will be mad at us for making him wait?" The rabbit asked the boy. The Clown shook his head. "He'll understand and besides, we were low in cash remember?" he said. Roy then noticed the boy slowly approaching it and consumed by the light. He began to ran. This was his chance.

"CHIEF!" Havoc shouted at him.

He covered his face using his arms as he entered the white light as it completely closed behind him.

* * *

Roy blinked. The white light blinded him temporarily and when he tried to focus his eyes. He saw a hazy blur figures and when he focus more he see a clearer picture of his surroundings. He saw Walker and the rabbit with a completely shocked expression over their face.

The rabbit stood up on Walker's shoulder and readied himself; he seemed to be holding on some kind of hammer.

"Who are you?!" he shouted to him.

"Colonel Mustang?"

Roy straightened and looked at Allen Walker in the eyes. "W-Wait, Allen you know this guy?"

"Did you follow me, Colonel?" He ignored his friend. Roy nodded. "I needed to know what happen to Hughes and I need answers, NOW" Roy eyed him. Walker just sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"OHHHHH, it's good to see you again Colonel Mustang!"

Roy's eyes widen. It was the voice of the Earl. He looked around to see where the voice came from and he noticed something that he didn't noticed before. There were buildings that were completely white, and the sky was completely clear of clouds. He was in a city. A completely white city that seemed to blow faintly. It was beautiful and breathtaking. He didn't know that a city like this even exists.

There was a screen slowly showing that stood in front of them. Roy looked at it and also the other two. It showed the Earl with the little monster on his shoulder.

"Where are my manners" The Earl chuckled and coughed. "Colonel Roy Mustang" Roy eyed him.

He spread his arms apart "Welcome to our home!~"

TBC

* * *

**Fruitloop: **Thank you so much for reading! 8D For the next chapter, the Elric brothers are back to central and Neah, Allen and Lavi are having a nice cup of tea with the Colonel. As for the alert on Briggs, there will be a surprise on the *cough* Wanted Posters *cough*

See you guys soon!


	11. Crowd Trouble

**Fruitloop: **Thank you so much for all of your support everyone! I'm so sorry for not updating so soon. Writer's Block is such a pain and you know that *cries*

So anyways, thank you again and hope you guys have a nice day

Now on with the story~

* * *

**The Clown and the Alchemists**

Chapter 11: Crowd Trouble

* * *

The room was white and the corners of every wall were covered in mirrors. Ed was standing in the middle of it and when he looked around, the mirrors were reflecting his image. Where was he? He thought. The last time he remembered was he was battling with the Homunculus "Greed" and helped Al escape from the Devil's Nest in Dublith, he was stabbed and there was pain. What had happened? Ed gulped as he could feel uneasiness on this very room. The room was reflecting his image everywhere and couldn't help that he was being watched. Was he dreaming? He thought. He walked through the mirror and slowly reached for it.

"Please do not touch that young alchemist…"

Ed snapped and immediately turned around. There was a woman with a white robe with a long white veil on her head sitting in a stone bench with a sleeping child on her lap. The child was around ten years old and he was wrapped in white cloth and he had snow white hair. The child was not facing him but if that kid had white hair. Ed blinked and eyed the child. 'Could it be?' he thought.

"Allen?!"

The woman smiled and put a finger on her mouth in a "shh" gesture and brushed the sleeping child's hair lightly.

"Don't be so loud young alchemist" she said softly. "You'll going to wake him up"

Ed eyed the woman and straightened himself. "Who are you?" he asked. "What is this place?"

The woman smiled and continued to brush the child's hair in a motherly kind of way reminding Ed of his own mother. Ed was a little bit tensed. He looked at the mirrors and only saw only his reflection and when he eyed the woman to where her reflection should be, there was nothing there. As if the woman didn't exist. "I'm what 'they' called the Heart" she said not looking at him.

"They? Heart?" Ed asked curiously.

The boy on her lap; moved and slightly twitched. He mumbled something. "Mana…"

There was no doubt about it. This boy was Allen Walker. He remembered Allen told him about Mana, his foster father who has adopted him. But why was he here? As a child?

The woman smiled and held little Allen's cheek and brushed him gently. She closed her eyes; opened her mouth and started to sing.

_So the little infant fell into a deep sleep_

_Among the grey ashes in the flames shining..._

The Lullaby made the boy stopped moving and again peacefully sleeps on her lap.

_First one, then two ... Surfaces numerous of your faces_

The mirrors began to show off some images. In a snow filled land there was a boy wearing an oven knit on his left arm with a man walking along side him with a top hat. Holding the little boy's right hand and on his other hand was a large briefcase

_A thousand dreams trickle back to the earth_

Ed couldn't believe on what he was seeing. Was this Allen's memories? Or was this Allen's dream?

_On the night when the silver eyes were trembling_

The mirror showed Allen squatting on the snow and the man grabbed a stick and went to the stone staircase and sat. He began to draw something on the snow.

_The shining you was born Across millions of years_

"I will teach you something very special, Allen" The boy's eyes widen in excitement. "What is it Mana?"

_The prayers have already returned back to the earth_

"It's a special code Allen" the man smiled as he looked at the boy. "That you and I only will understand" he said with an amused tone. "Let's make it our secret language"

_I will still continue to pray._

The woman that was singing the lullaby was looking at the sleeping form of little Allen, gently rubbing her fingers on Allen's cheek.

_Please bestow upon this child your love_

_Upon our joined hands, leave a gentle kiss_

The room began to break, the mirrors shattered. The room turned into white and all of the sudden. Ed became even more tensed. This feeling was similar when he was on the gate.

Behind the woman appeared the Gate of Truth and when he looked at closer on its design. It was a cross like rose and the two doors of the gate slowly opened revealing the "eye" staring at his being.

The Heart looked at him and tears were seen.

"_Please protect him, Edward Elric_"

All of the sudden, there was a man standing on the back of the Heart. He wore a pastor like clothing and he had a very long brown jacket. He also wore glasses and he was grinning at him like the Truth and his tombstone like teeth.

"_You are not going to interfere on MY plans Alchemist_"

Ed opened his eyes. He was covered with sweat and the strands of his hair were covering his face.

"Brother!" Al shouted and went to his side. "Al?" Ed looked at his little brother. He held his head and tried to remember what he dreamt off. "Are you alright, brother?" Al asked him and Ed slowly nodded.

"Where am I Al?" he asked.

"You're in teacher's house, brother"

Ed slowly raised himself from bed and rubbed his head. For some reason, he couldn't remember the nightmare. All he could remember was the Gate of Truth and everything was a blur there was also a melody of someone singing but who? He closed his eyes and tried again to remember

"_Mana…_"

"_I will teach you something very special, Allen"_

_Mirrors shattered into pieces…_

Ed opened his eyes and couldn't remember anymore. Al sat next to him and looked him in the eye. "Is there something wrong brother?" he asked. "Does your wound… hurt brother?" When Al notified him of his wound, he moved his hands to the stab wound were Greed stabbed him. He faintly registered the pain on his mind. Ed shook his head.

_Please protect him, Edward Elric_

"Then what's bothering you brother?" Al asked. "Was it another nightmare?"

"I don't know Al" he looked to his little brother. "I dreamt about… Allen… his past maybe…" he rubbed his fingers to his eyes as he remembered the fragmented memories of Allen.

"His past, brother?" Al asked him and tilted his head

Ed nodded. "I saw him and his foster father in the snow" he said and remembered the man, Mana writing on the snow. "He was writing on the snow, something like a secret language, Al…"

"A secret Language?"

"I also dreamt about The Gate but I couldn't remember anything other than that… But I heard someone sing… It's like a lullaby for a child… but I never heard of it…"

* * *

Roy was walking the long stair case of the tallest building inside the Ark with Allen Walker and the Rabbit. What troubled him was that the stairs and doors were everywhere as if a giant maze of stairs and doors were his original design, there were also floating pointed candles flying around, defying gravity. Where's the scientific explanation of that?! Roy thought. The rabbit turned around and he was still sitting on Allen's shoulder.

"Hey, Colonel, I guess I owe you an apology" He scratched its head. "I thought that you were in lead to that Crazy Woman in Briggs" he laughed.

"Crazy Woman?" he asked.

The rabbit nodded. "Yeah, when we at the Briggs Mountain, we almost got killed by the Crazy woman with blond hair with her bear guy… It was scary! This bear guy just appeared out of nowhere and attacked us with his metal claw! Then when we almost escaped, The Crazy Woman ordered her men to fire at us! Good thing that Allen used Crowned Clown and protect the both of us" it then stared at him and Roy stared back. The rabbit was talkative he thought. 'What's Crowned Clown?' he wondered.

"By any chance you know that woman Colonel, since you are in the military?" he asked to him.

"That would be Brigadier General Armstrong"

Allen turned his head around with a completely shocked expression on his face. "She's Major Armstrong's relative?!" he shouted. "But… she's evil! How did she even be related to the Major?"

Roy raised an eyebrow. "You know Major Armstrong?"

Allen put his hand on his head and rubbed it sheepishly. "Yes Colonel, sir" The boy looked at him. "I met them in Resembool along with the Elric Brothers, sir" Roy nodded in understanding.

"Why were you in Briggs?" he asked.

"Oh" Allen paused for a second. "Just personal business Colonel sir" he chuckled lightly and continued on walking. Roy looked at the black walls and the endless staircase down below. If someone will fall on this height they will surely die.

"We're here"

Roy snapped his thoughts and looked in front of him. They stood at the white door. Allen slowly opened it and he covered his eyes because of the bright light. When the light faded away and his sight was adjusting on the brightness. He saw a long table with three sits from each corner. The room was wide and had an open and a great view of the white city below. He still couldn't put his mind on how this city existed. "Uncle, were here!" Allen shouted.

"I'll be right there!" the Earl's voice echoed though the room but there was no sign of him. Allen sat on the chair and he followed. The rabbit jump off on Allen's shoulder and stood on the table. "I guess we haven't properly introduced ourselves, Colonel" He lift his arm as if he was giving a hand shake. "The name's Lavi, Lavi Bookman Jr."

Roy eyed the little arm and shook it. "Colonel Roy Mustang" he said.

From afar, he could see a door appeared out of nowhere. The door was white with a -?- on the top of it and Roy eyed the door. 'How did it appear just like that?'

'Where was the Equivalent Exchange?'

The door opened revealing the Earl holding a tea set. Roy stared awkwardly.

"I just made some tea~ would you like a taste Colonel?" The Earl smiled as he placed the tea set on the table. He then saw him slip it on the table and positioned itself exactly in front of it.

'What the?! How did he?'

Lavi whistled. 'Hey, I didn't know that you have a trick like that, Neah. When did you learn how to do that?' The Earl smiled and put his arms on his hips. "It's just a little trick that my brother thought me a long time ago~" he chuckled.

"Where's Hughes?"

"He's recovering at the room"

"Lead me to him"

"That can wait Colonel Mustang" he took a cup of tea. "Let's talk first Roy, can I call you Roy?" the man grinned. Roy just went quiet. "Nice weather we're having, right Roy?" Neah smiled and couldn't help feel uneasy. "What do you want from me Earl?" Neah sip his tea and put the cup on the table. "Straight to the point kind of man hm?"

Roy's eyebrow twitched. "Well, if you want to know that badly, I just want to have a decent conversation with you though I don't like you trespassing on my home uninvited" The Earl sighed and tapped his fingers on the table. "But since you are a friend, I will let you slip" he said smiling.

"Normally, people who trespass the ark ended up dead but I guess I'm not in the mood"

Roy readied his gloves just in case. "I'm just kidding" The rabbit turned to him. "Colonel, I should warned you, Neah wasn't joking on that one" Roy's eyebrow twitched. "What do you mean?" he whispered. Lavi shrugged and put his tiny hands on his hips. "What I mean is what I mean"

"So how are you Roy? Anything new happened in the military?"

He just went quiet and shook his head. "By any chance that my nephew became listed in the wanted list?" Roy's eyebrow rose. "Why would he be on the wanted list, Earl?"

"Oh, you know… military involvement…" The Earl said as he eyed the Allen and the rabbit

Lavi then looked at Roy. "We kinda went into a big trouble with the Brigadier General, Colonel" he said. "She was serious on killing us and we were trespassing on a military base… sort of… we ended up in her bad side…" He scratched his head. "So there's a possibility that my little nephew ended up in the wanted list" The Earl said while he looked bored.

Roy looked at the Earl. "No need to worry about that Earl" he said. "I'll make sure that Allen here won't be in the wanted list" Allen's eyes widen and eyed him. "You can do that?!" Roy smirked. If he could get the Earl's interest and favor, maybe he might be willing to tell his secrets. "I'm the 'closest' friend of Armstrong family. I'll just talk to her about the misunderstanding"

Allen sighed in relief. "Thank goodness" The Earl clapped in delight. "That's great!" The Earl said and smiled joyfully. Roy mentally smirked. "Equivalent Exchange, Earl" he said as he eyed him. The Earl's smile faded and looked at him with a twitching eyebrow. "I will take care of your problem if you tell me what you know and what this place is"

The Earl went quiet and sighed deeply. "Fine" he said in defeat. "But know this Colonel" his smile was back and it send shivers down on his spine. "What I'll say to you will not leave this room" he then poured the tea on his cup. "If you ever leak any information about me and my nephew in the higher ups of your military, I will personally deal with you myself" he said and Roy noticed that his grin was wider that could reach to his ears. 'What can he do?' he thought. He was the Flame Alchemist, one of the most dangerous alchemists to deal with even though he was useless in the rain he admitted. Yet, why couldn't he shake of the feeling that the Earl was giving him? The Fear?

Roy nodded in agreement and tried to have a calm posture.

The Earl smiled yet again but this time, the evil smirk was gone. "Good~" he said gleefully.

After a long talk on the dining hall, Roy learned the Earl's real name was Neah Walker, the rabbit told him and The Earl didn't like it one bit, he was enjoying everyone calling him by the title 'Earl of Millennium' and yet he doesn't know what was the meaning behind it. Roy mentally sighed.

The rabbit, Lavi Bookman Jr. was a golem, The Earl made him for Allen to accompany him while the golden monster was with him, helping him to his research from the monster that attacked his friend Maes. He had discovered that Lavi was one of Allen's dead best friends and his golem form has his memories not his soul. When he thought about it, the golem can taste and feel, which was still a question on how that works and when he asked him on how he done it. Neah told him while pointing at the rabbit was that he has a special crystal that was inside him. He called it "Dark Matter". He was told that only his family could utilize and produce these special crystals except for Allen.

The Crystal was powerful, just like the Philosopher's stone, it by pass the Laws of Equivalent Exchange. It could bring back the dead (which he doubted that it was only the Earl's bluff) and create as many dangerous golems. Neah even demonstrate and introduced a butterfly golem called 'Tease' that eats human flesh on the screen. It was disgusting but the Earl told him to not worry because the Teases were all gone 'extinct' and they won't come back anymore.

He also told him that these crystals were a curse and for those who weren't part of the Earl's family use it for their selfish desire will die from the exposure of it.

This place, the 'Ark' was a city full of doors that could lead from one place to another. A fascinating design that can be used as a weapon, opening doors that could lead to one place to another in a blink of an eye, to the places that could take days to arrive and using the ark it only takes a matter of minutes. Only Allen and Neah could open the doors of this place which remained a mystery on "How" it worked.

Neah on the far corner of the table smiled. "I expect, Roy that you won't tell anyone about what you discovered here hm?"

He nodded in agreement and looked at the Earl.

The Earl smiled and looked at his nephew. "Ah, Allen, I need you to buy more tea leaves in the city, it seemed that we all ran out" Allen nodded and stood. "Oh and Allen~" he heard Neah gleefully say and noticed that Allen went still. "Come back before dinner, okay?" Neah said smilling. "Don't get any more trouble~"

"Yes uncle" Allen said and smiled with a hint of wariness. Lavi jumped to Allen's shoulder and Neah stood up and signaled him to come, Roy was tensed but it broke when Allen whispered to him. "Don't worry, Colonel sir, he's going to send you now to your friend". Roy stood and slowly went with the Earl.

* * *

Allen and Lavi were on the streets of Central again. Allen looked up and noticed the grey clouds. It was about to rain. "You know Allen, The Colonel kinda reminds me of a 'serious' Komui mode" Lavi said as he swing his tiny little rabbit fit back and forth on his shoulder. "Do you think he should be trusted?"

He smiled at his friend and patted his head. "Don't worry too much, Lavi" he said. "The Colonel is trustworthy"

Just passing by the bulletin board, he saw people gathered around. "What do you think is the fuss about Allen?" Curiosity struck Allen and he went into it. "I don't know Lavi" he said. He easily dodged the crowd and he finally saw on what was on the board. There was a sketch of him with Lavi and below the picture was labeled:

_**Missing "Nephew"**_

_**Reward**__: 4,000,000 Cenz_

_If found, hand over to the North City, Briggs or Central Command_

_**Signed: Brigadier General Armstrong**_

Allen paled and so does Lavi. The fact that they are not listed in the Wanted list, but in the missing list? Everyone in the crowd looked at him and went quiet upon realization

"HE'S HERE!"

"HURRY!"

"Come here, we'll send you to your family"

Allen immediately dash out of the way and what was tailing him was the crowd. Lavi was hanging on his clothes, holding it tight. "COME BACK!" the crowd behind them was shouting.

"Allen turned to that alley!" Lavi shouted as Allen saw an alley way. Allen followed and met a huge brick wall in the way. "Hang on tight Lavi" He readied himself and started his high jump. The people behind him stared at him wide eyed as he was on the top of the brick wall.

He began to ran to the roofs of the buildings, jumping from one to another. He looked below and saw some of them were still following him. "They just won't give up, would they?" Lavi said. "Lavi, do you see the reward price over my head?" Allen said sarcastically. "We have to at least find a place to hide" they jump from the other building and landed on the alley. He looked around to see if it was coast and clear.

"We should find a jacket" Lavi said as he help on surveying the area.

Unknown to them, two pair of violet eyes were watching them.

"He smells delicious, Lust. Can I eat him?"

TBC

* * *

**Fruitloop: **Thank you for reading!~


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